Ship in the Puget Sound
The Port of Tacoma’s share of cargo handled over West Coast docks dropped to 8.1 percent in 2010, down from 9.7 percent in 2009 and 9.8 percent in 2008.
That uneven change in cargo volumes pushed the Port of Seattle’s market share above Tacoma’s for the first time in years. Seattle handled 9.3 percent of West Coast cargoes last year, the report from the Pacific Maritime Association revealed.
A large part of Seattle’s rise to become Puget Sound’s largest port again is linked to the move of one of the Port of Tacoma’s larger shipping lines, Maersk Line, to Seattle from Tacoma in 2009. Maersk moved its Puget Sound operations to Seattle because it formed an alliance with French shipping line CMA CGM to share cargo. CMA CGM called on the Port of Seattle.