Friday, March 31, 2023
By: Bree Laughlin
Oregon Representative Val Hoyle reported she is pushing hard in Congress to garner support and funding for the Port of Coos Bay shipping container project.
Meanwhile, Port of Coos Bay representatives report they are doing everything they can to move forward with the project.
“We have support from business and ag, Democrats and Republicans, labor and environmentalists – across the board – and it is of national significance,” Congresswoman Hoyle told The World on her recent visit to Coos Bay.
“There are a lot of reasons to have this,” she said.
The Port of Coos Bay is one of two international ports in Oregon. The other is in Portland. The local port has been promoting the creation of Pacific Coast Intermodal Project or PCIP.
Proponents of this project, including Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, as well as Hoyle report that creating a new West Coast container port in Coos Bay would address bottlenecks in the national supply chain, boost the economy and create thousands of good-paying union jobs.
The project was not selected for a “mega grant” earlier this year, but project proponents remain hopeful that future rounds of grant funding will move the project forward.
“We are going to wait for the next round of grants – but we are also looking at money for ports, money for rail. I think we look at all of the bipartisan pockets available because of the importance of the project,” Hoyle said.
Margaret Barber, director of external affairs and business development for the Port of Coos Bay, said the port is moving forward with the project incrementally as funding allows. She said Port representatives remain optimistic the project will become a reality.
The mission of the Port of Coos Bay is to promote sustainable development that enhances the economy of southwest Oregon and the state. Barber said this project falls in line with that mission.
“We are really excited about this project, because in the past with the community being so heavily reliant on timber, when additional regulations were imposed, it wreaked havoc on our economy – and economies throughout the timber realm,” Barber said.
“We want to promote these businesses to keep them strong and competitive as they can be in the marketplace,” she said. “But as we look at bringing in additional business, what we really need is to diversify the economy. This is a great example of a situation where we can do that.”
Representative Hoyle echoed these sentiments.
“This will be a game changer and the South Coast will be part of the economic engine of the state like it used to be. We lost 10,000 jobs when the timber industry left. This would make up for most of that,” she said.
Port spokesperson Barber said a few things about the Port of Coos Bay make it uniquely suited to become the next major shipping container distribution hub on the West Coast.
“There’s three primary components,” Barber said. “One, of course, is building the actual facility itself.”
The Port of Coos Bay partnered with Northpoint, a private developer, to construct a multimodal container facility on the North Spit.
“It creates an opportunity to build a state-of-the-art facility from the ground up,” Barber said.
“Historically, if you look at ports throughout the U.S. a lot of the infrastructure is antiquated. So, this is exciting because it provides us an opportunity to be as energy-efficient as possible, as green as possible and integrate some of the newer technologies to make this really special,” she said.
The second major piece in the project is going to be modification of the water channel up to the railroad bridges. The Port of Coos Bay is reportedly working with the Army Corps to deepen and widen the channel up to that point from 37 feet to 45 feet deep.
“That will allow for larger vessels to come in here. Because with shipping, it is really all about economies of size – and ships continue to get bigger and bigger so we need to stay competitive into the future,” Barber said.
Barber noted the current work the Army Corps of Engineers is making on the North Jetty is a good step in the right direction.
“The North Jetty is a super important piece of maritime infrastructure because it essentially manages the waves and turbulence as you go through the bar crossing. So, for safety and navigation it’s really critical,” Barber said.
The third component of the PCIP project will be a major overhaul of the railroad.
The Port owned and operated Coos Bay Rail Line (CBRL) transports approximately $460 million worth of freight in and out of the region every year – and has kept over 185,000 trucks off the road since the Port of Coos Bay reopened the line in 2011.
“When we got it, it was in a poor state of repair. We have – since purchasing it – put about $100 million into it,” Barber said.
Barber said the port has been fortunate to receive federal and state grants and has put its’ own money in as well. But they are estimating they would need another $700 to $900 million dollars for the rail system to accommodate the PCIP project.
This would include replacing tracks and putting in additional pull offs so trains could pass each other. They would also need to increase the height of the train tunnels to bring them up to industry standards.
While many of the ‘bones’ are already in place for the PCIP project, and the scope of the work has been identified, there is still a long way to go.
Hoyle said her plan is to keep applying for the next rounds of the federally-funded mega grant.
“I think we go all in on that. We have the breadth of support that very few other projects have.
Then we look in other pockets because we can’t just look in one place,” Hoyle said.
“I believe the way I can be most effective is to talk to everybody who may have an interest in shipping, in manufacturing, in jobs and supply chain issues. And that’s everyone. That’s everyone from Home Depot to the labor unions, to banks because they need business to be strong and we need our supply chain to be strong and efficient,” Hoyle said.
Even after funding has been allocated, in order to move forward with the PCIP, the port will have to do extensive permitting, environmental and design work. Following that, Barber estimates construction of the PCIP would take approximately three years. Oregon Representative Val Hoyle reported she is pushing hard in Congress to garner support and funding for the Port of Coos Bay shipping container project.
Meanwhile, Port of Coos Bay representatives report they are doing everything they can to move forward with the project.
“We have support from business and ag, Democrats and Republicans, labor and environmentalists – across the board – and it is of national significance,” Congresswoman Hoyle told The World on her recent visit to Coos Bay.
“There are a lot of reasons to have this,” she said.
The Port of Coos Bay is one of two international ports in Oregon. The other is in Portland. The local port has been promoting the creation of Pacific Coast Intermodal Project or PCIP.
Proponents of this project, including Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, as well as Hoyle report that creating a new West Coast container port in Coos Bay would address bottlenecks in the national supply chain, boost the economy and create thousands of good-paying union jobs.
The project was not selected for a “mega grant” earlier this year, but project proponents remain hopeful that future rounds of grant funding will move the project forward.
“We are going to wait for the next round of grants – but we are also looking at money for ports, money for rail. I think we look at all of the bipartisan pockets available because of the importance of the project,” Hoyle said.
Margaret Barber, director of external affairs and business development for the Port of Coos Bay, said the port is moving forward with the project incrementally as funding allows. She said Port representatives remain optimistic the project will become a reality.
The mission of the Port of Coos Bay is to promote sustainable development that enhances the economy of southwest Oregon and the state. Barber said this project falls in line with that mission.
“We are really excited about this project, because in the past with the community being so heavily reliant on timber, when additional regulations were imposed, it wreaked havoc on our economy – and economies throughout the timber realm,” Barber said.
“We want to promote these businesses to keep them strong and competitive as they can be in the marketplace,” she said. “But as we look at bringing in additional business, what we really need is to diversify the economy. This is a great example of a situation where we can do that.”
Representative Hoyle echoed these sentiments.
“This will be a game changer and the South Coast will be part of the economic engine of the state like it used to be. We lost 10,000 jobs when the timber industry left. This would make up for most of that,” she said.
Port spokesperson Barber said a few things about the Port of Coos Bay make it uniquely suited to become the next major shipping container distribution hub on the West Coast.
“There’s three primary components,” Barber said. “One, of course, is building the actual facility itself.”
The Port of Coos Bay partnered with Northpoint, a private developer, to construct a multimodal container facility on the North Spit.
“It creates an opportunity to build a state-of-the-art facility from the ground up,” Barber said.
“Historically, if you look at ports throughout the U.S. a lot of the infrastructure is antiquated. So, this is exciting because it provides us an opportunity to be as energy-efficient as possible, as green as possible and integrate some of the newer technologies to make this really special,” she said.
The second major piece in the project is going to be modification of the water channel up to the railroad bridges. The Port of Coos Bay is reportedly working with the Army Corps to deepen and widen the channel up to that point from 37 feet to 45 feet deep.
“That will allow for larger vessels to come in here. Because with shipping, it is really all about economies of size – and ships continue to get bigger and bigger so we need to stay competitive into the future,” Barber said.
Barber noted the current work the Army Corps of Engineers is making on the North Jetty is a good step in the right direction.
“The North Jetty is a super important piece of maritime infrastructure because it essentially manages the waves and turbulence as you go through the bar crossing. So, for safety and navigation it’s really critical,” Barber said.
The third component of the PCIP project will be a major overhaul of the railroad.
The Port owned and operated Coos Bay Rail Line (CBRL) transports approximately $460 million worth of freight in and out of the region every year – and has kept over 185,000 trucks off the road since the Port of Coos Bay reopened the line in 2011.
“When we got it, it was in a poor state of repair. We have – since purchasing it – put about $100 million into it,” Barber said.
Barber said the port has been fortunate to receive federal and state grants and has put its’ own money in as well. But they are estimating they would need another $700 to $900 million dollars for the rail system to accommodate the PCIP project.
This would include replacing tracks and putting in additional pull offs so trains could pass each other. They would also need to increase the height of the train tunnels to bring them up to industry standards.
While many of the ‘bones’ are already in place for the PCIP project, and the scope of the work has been identified, there is still a long way to go.
Hoyle said her plan is to keep applying for the next rounds of the federally-funded mega grant.
“I think we go all in on that. We have the breadth of support that very few other projects have.
Then we look in other pockets because we can’t just look in one place,” Hoyle said.
“I believe the way I can be most effective is to talk to everybody who may have an interest in shipping, in manufacturing, in jobs and supply chain issues. And that’s everyone. That’s everyone from Home Depot to the labor unions, to banks because they need business to be strong and we need our supply chain to be strong and efficient,” Hoyle said.
Even after funding has been allocated, in order to move forward with the PCIP, the port will have to do extensive permitting, environmental and design work. Following that, Barber estimates construction of the PCIP would take approximately three years.
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