A Commission Perspective

To download Commissioner Jerry Oliver's "Delivering Possibilities: A Commission Perspective" in PDF format, click here.

"DELIVERING POSSIBILITIES: A Commission Perspective"

Good morning, and thank you for being here this morning. It is truly my pleasure to represent the Port of Vancouver Board of Commissioners – including my fellow commissioners Nancy Baker and Brian Wolfe.

Winston Churchill once remarked “There are two things more difficult than giving a speech: climbing a wall that leans toward you and kissing a girl that leans away from you”.  Well, my rock climbing days are over and 48 years ago I married a pretty girl named Joan who did not lean too far away. 

So, this should be fairly easy, especially since there is a hint of some good things happening at the port.

A little more than one year ago, economist John Mitchell said “The republic has survived 35 recessions in the past, and they all ended. This one will too.”

And as sure as I’m standing here this morning, I believe it has. I am proud to report to you this morning that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and the Port of Vancouver will be one of the first to make it out.

I can say that confidently because your port commission has made a series of strategic decisions to position this port to be ready for the recovery.  From moving forward on constructing the largest single infrastructure project in our port’s history – the West Vancouver Freight Access rail project, to purchasing and developing a new marine terminal and taking delivery on a second new mobile harbor crane – we are moving forward.

This port has proven to be a steady rudder in the economic storm that was this most recent recession. The commission has shown the flexibility to adapt to situations and employ creative solutions that have enabled us  to help tenants who were struggling keep their focus and  survive the downturn, and be in a position to leap forward when the economy rebounds.

We continue to work closely with Trimac Panel Products who helped us a great deal when they were willing to adjust their leasehold boundaries so we could build the groundwater cleanup facility just south of their warehouse. We valued that relationship, and when the economy began to take its toll on Trimac we worked out a new lease agreement that enables them to keep their business moving in difficult times, and will make the port whole when their business grows with the economy.

Another example is Great Western Malting. This company that has called your port – and our community – home for the more than 75 years. Great Western has prospered by providing some of the best brewing ingredients anywhere and wanted some assurance that it could stay here for another 75 years. At the same time, the port needed to build its rail project and run a rail line through the middle of Great Western’s leasehold. Long story short, we needed to make an investment to keep them here, and needed them to make an investment to help us with the rail project. In the end, we reached an agreement that worked for both Great Western and the port. And both parties will end up with the modern facilities they need to continue providing – and adding – jobs in this community.

Your port commission has made other investments, too – investments that mean more cargo, more jobs and more revenue for the port and Vancouver.

As Commissioner Baker noted at this event one year ago, we now have two mobile harbor cranes – the largest in North America. The commitment we made to investing in those two cranes is already paying off. We are attracting new project cargo, and in fact, Vancouver, Washington is becoming one of the most well-known ports on the West Coast for having the capability to handle heavy lift cargo. It has become a new niche for us.

Last August, we used both cranes in tandem to handle a new heavy cargo, which may become a regular cargo through your port in the near future. Stay tuned for more information about that.

Our marketing department tells me we frequently take calls for quotes to handle heavy lift cargos. As that customer and cargo base continues to grow; it also means new opportunities for jobs at the port, and good economic news for our community.

When I ran for the commission, one of my stated goals was to minimize and perhaps reduce taxes. My fellow commissioners and I have again committed to a budget that’s not only responsible, but sensible. Recognizing how deeply this particular recession has hit our community, we did not raise taxes for this year’s budget, instead opting to stay at the 2009 level of property tax proceeds. It was not, we all agreed, a good time to be asking taxpayers to provide us with more – and as a result, we’re continuing to go forward with our projects and growth as we can afford to do so.

Along those lines, we continue to deliver a rail project – built in phases, that is bringing online separate segments that can be used right away, and will provide maximum benefit as we go.

As an example: this June, your port will have a completed new rail loop at Terminal 5 that will provide us with the ability to accept trains of more than a mile and a half in length and break them down for distribution to rail customers across the port. As with each section of this project, the Terminal 5 loop track will utilize a variety of funding for construction.

Our contracts, facilities and public affairs teams are working hard to continue to identify any and all federal and state funding, grant money and appropriations that can help us pay for this great project to keep the port and the community headed for the light at the end of the tunnel.

Keeping an eye on that light, we have partnered with the BNSF Railway on an industrial track agreement that gave the port ownership to the property and infrastructure for all rail within port boundaries, and operations rights to the railroad. It also gives the port competitive access, and the opportunity for Union Pacific to call on port customers as well.

This year, we expect to see the completion of the Lower Columbia River Channel Improvement Project – otherwise known as channel deepening. Upon completion of that project, the river’s shipping channel from the mouth of the river all the way to the Port of Vancouver, will be three feet deeper than its current 40 foot minimum depth. That three feet means millions of dollars worth of additional cargo – particularly bulks like grain, scrap steel, malted barley, copper concentrate and bentonite clay to name just a few – can be added to each bulk vessel that stops here in Vancouver, making this port and the Columbia River System competitive in a global marketplace. It’s just one more example of a possibility that’s being delivered.

The channel deepening project could not have happened without funding from the federal government – from the White House to Congress and the Army Corps of Engineers – and I’m happy to represent this community, and your port, in saying thank you to Senators Murray and Cantwell, Congressman Baird, as well as presidents Bush and Obama for their support to fund this project, which is critical to the Pacific Northwest economy as it recovers and continues to grow going forward.

Another project that we completely support is the rehabilitation of the jetties at the mouth of the Columbia River. This is another vital, and critical, project that must be funded by the federal government in order to keep global trade flowing in and out of the Columbia River. You can count on this port commission continuing to stand its ground in support of a project to take care of the jetties and keep the Columbia open to global trade.

I’ve just described the possibilities that your port has been delivering on over the last couple of years. But just because we’ve been delivering, that doesn’t mean the work is done. There’s much more to do, and we are preparing for tomorrow while also taking care of business today.

In 2009, we completed the purchase of 218 acres of heavy industrial property now known as Terminal 5, and quickly put that land back to work for our community as a wind energy cargo handling facility.

In November, the commission authorized a contract to Vancouver’s Rotschy, Inc. to build the Terminal 5 unit train facility. That construction is underway as we speak, and is expected to be complete by June of this year. The folks at Rotschy tell me that more than 100 local construction workers, engineers, and other construction-related skills are working today because of that project.

When the loop is complete, Terminal 5 will be even more attractive to potential customers for any range of cargos – and we have already had interest from several potential new customers who will bring jobs and create vigorous economic activity here in Vancouver. Projections show that at full buildout of Terminal 5, there could be as many as 1,000 new industrial, marine terminal, rail, and other related jobs created, depending on the nature of the business that comes to the facility.

We’re also ready to expand north of Lower River Road with our new Centennial Industrial Park. Property that once was home to the Rufener family’s farm is ready for development and we are currently marketing the property to potential new light industrial tenants. It is important to note here, too, that as we continue going forward with this development and marketing, we are also taking the care and the time to keep our neighbors in Fruit Valley in the loop about what’s happening at the port. Over the years, that has become a relationship we’re very proud of.

Speaking of the Fruit Valley Neighborhood, one of the project’s we at the port are most proud of is the port’s groundwater cleanup facility that has been going strong for nearly a year now. This treatment facility is accelerating the cleanup of groundwater under the neighborhood that was tainted by a non-port industrial company more than 50 years ago. I’m proud to say that the cleanup is going so well, that we have begun removing the air monitoring equipment from homes in Fruit Valley.

Before I finish this morning, I’d like to remind everyone that there is light at the end of this dark economic tunnel. I think we can all see it – and if I may, it is the Port of Vancouver USA.

Thank you very much for joining us this morning, on behalf of the port commission and staff, I appreciate you being here.

With that, I have the honor to introduce a few of our friends – both here in Southwest Washington and at the port – who have a few words they would like to share with you in a brief video.

(DELIVERING POSSIBILITIES VIDEO)

Thank you to the fine folks at CVTV, our elected representatives and all of the people behind the scenes for helping us put that video together.

Please welcome the executive director of the Port of Vancouver, Mr. Larry Paulson, who will deliver this year’s state of the port address.