But, speaking to a room of colleagues, clients and collaborators gathered for lunch at the annual State of the Port address, Port of Oakland Executive Director Danny Wan pledged to turn the trend around.
“We anticipate fully that cargo volumes will increase by mid-year as we normalize,” Wan predicted.
In the meantime, the port has a laundry list of infrastructure projects it says are necessary for growth. It’s planning, for example, to eventually reactivate a 120-acre marine terminal that would boost its capacity. It is preparing for a zero-emission future, and applauding terminals who take steps to lower their emissions. And, it’s proposing to upgrade critical roads, pavements and rail crossings it sees as needing modernization.