Oregon Looks to Build West Coast's First Ship-to-Rail Port Terminal

The U.S. Department of Transportation is awarding $25 million to the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay, to help fund the construction of a new intermodal container terminal. 

The money will go toward the environmental review and permitting process, in addition to preliminary engineering and design work for the terminal's railyard, container yard, wharf and berths. Once it's fully built, the terminal will become the first full ship-to-rail port facility on the West Coast, with the ability to move virtually all inbound and outbound containers by rail without trucks. In a bid to cut down on emissions, ships will also be powered by electrical plug-ins at berth during the unloading process, and will be unloaded by electrified ship-to-shore cranes. 

"Today’s announcement brings us one step closer to rebuilding the South Coast as an economic engine for the state and introduces more pathways to the middle class," Oregon Governor Tina Kotek said in an October 17 news release. 

The Port of Coos Bay comes with favorable geography as well, given that it already has a rail line connected to the Class I railway network, and a naturally deep channel maintained annually by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. During an analysis of West Coast locations from Canada all the way down to Mexico, Coos Bay Harbor was identified as the only location where additional material port capacity could be added, based on capacity and infrastructure in place at existing Pacific Coast ports. 

The five-year project is expected to cost a total of $2.3 billion. Roughly two million import and export containers are expected to move through the Port of Coos Bay each year after the new terminal gets up and running.