The Coos Bay-North Bend area has roughly 32,000 residents and hundreds of acres zoned for industrial development. Through a public-private partnership between the port and NorthPoint Development, advocates of the port expansion aim to develop a $1.8 billion intermodal facility, capable of moving freight using multiple modes of transportation.
鈥淥ur primary role is to facilitate and encourage economic development here in the region and for the state,鈥� said Margaret Barber, director of external affairs and business development for the Port of Coos Bay.
Barber said one asset the port controls is the Coos Bay rail line, which it鈥檚 hoping to upgrade if it can obtain $700 million from the U.S. Transportation Department鈥檚 . While the Port of Coos Bay was not chosen as a Mega Grant recipient last year, Barber said advocates of a port expansion already have lined up $35 million from the state of Oregon, a , and a program.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got nine tunnels along our rail lines. So we鈥檒l be making those taller essentially, or dropping it down one way or the other, so that it can accommodate double-stack traffic, because that鈥檚 primarily how containers are moved now,鈥� Barber said. 鈥淪o we鈥檙e looking at鈥攚hen this is fully up and running鈥攎oving about 1.2 million containers through the Port of Coos Bay every year.鈥�
The runs 134 miles and links the port with the national rail network in Eugene.
Barber said that moving product by rail is more eco-friendly than by semi-truck, and, she said, results in 75% less greenhouse gas emissions. An improved rail system could be used for more than international goods shipped from overseas, she added.
鈥淭he idea would be that we can capture a lot of export traffic as well,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hether it鈥檚 agricultural products from the Midwest, or Oregon even, and move stuff back that way.鈥�
Upgraded rail and port facilities could help Coos Bay and North Bend rebound from several recent setbacks. In 2019, the Coos Bay Georgia Pacific Mill shut down, and last year the Shutter Creek Correctional Institution in North Bend closed. The combined loss of those 220 jobs has created more urgency for the plans to upgrade the port, and that鈥檚 sparked attention from some politicians.
鈥淚 would love to talk more about the Port of Coos Bay,鈥� Val Hoyle, the Democratic representative for Oregon鈥檚 4th Congressional District, said on a recent edition of KLCC鈥檚 鈥�.
Holye, a member of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said the Port of Coos Bay is her top transportation priority, and she鈥檚 looking to have its channel dredged to a depth of 45 feet and a width of 450 feet to enable full-size container ships.
鈥淲ith that, we will be able to reduce the supply chain congestion on the west by 10 to 12%,鈥� said Hoyle. 鈥淎nd it will create both directly鈥攁nd with ancillary services鈥攁bout 9,000 jobs between Coos, Douglas, and Lane County.鈥�
Among those also hoping for an improved facility is Lori Steele, executive director of the West Coast Seafood Processors Association. Steele told KLCC that this push is good news for processors and suppliers, at a time when the seafood industry is still recuperating from the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of its Ukraine market.
鈥淭he Port of Coos Bay is really our largest international port and terminal,鈥� said Steele. 鈥淎nd they are not only making efforts to make expansions and grow as an international shipping terminal, but they鈥檙e also making significant investments in the future of their fishing and seafood industry down there.鈥�
There are undercurrents of dissent, however. The Biden administration and some environmentalists are eying the southern Oregon Coast for wind turbine developments. That鈥檚 caused concern for fishermen and other environmentalists.
Hoyle is hoping all these competing interests can be worked out.
鈥淲e feed the world out of the south coast,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd we want to make sure we allow people to fish, we allow whale migration to be not affected, and that we also move to a green energy source right there in the California current where there鈥檚 a lot of fish and there鈥檚 a lot of wind.鈥�
Proponents of a port expansion say that if the rail line, navigation channel, and container terminal all come together, the Pacific Coast Intermodal Port will generate 3,500 construction jobs over a five-year period, and will lead to 12 trains a day running between the Coos Bay area and Eugene.
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