Oregon Port of Willamette Summary
Willamette Intermodal Group, LLC (WIG) dba Oregon Port of Willamette (OPW), is developing a new intermodal rail facility near Woodburn, Oregon to receive and transfer international export and import containers from Ports of Seattle and Tacoma (SEATAC). The facility is located approximately 20 miles south of Portland, in Woodburn adjacent to a fully developed Interstate 5 (I-5) interchange and Amazon’s 3.8 million square feet fulfillment center. The intermodal yard will be connected and serviced by Portland & Western Railroad (PNWR) and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF). This project is fully entitled, shovel-ready with required construction permits available to be issued.
The vast majority of container shipping in and out of Oregon comes through the seaports of Seattle and Tacoma, traveling by truck on I-5. The only alternative by rail out of Portland recently closed its doors due to limited capacity, antiquated equipment, and traffic congestion. Port of Portland’s T6 inland location on the Columbia River requires ocean vessels to hire river pilots to help navigate 100 miles upriver to the Port of Portland, adding additional time and cost to transport containers.
OPW has executed service agreements with BNSF and PNWR to provide train service to and from our facility. BNSF has service contracts with all eight Pacific Ocean carriers and is willing to designate OPW as their preferred container yard (CY). This new facility was designed with input from and approved by both BNSF and PNWR engineering teams. BNSF will reposition and supply OPW with empty containers for additional export shipments and storage. This will allow OPW to provide lower storage rates than SEATAC’s CY.
The best way to reduce the growing highway congestion in the Portland area and along the I-5 is to provide business in the Willamette Valley with reliable, predictable, and cost-effective rail transportation. This new site greatly improves the ability to transport agricultural exports and retail imports by rail instead of trucking 225 to 250 miles to and from the ports of Seattle and Tacoma. Other advantages include less congestion, quicker round trips, less cost to shippers, reduced distance for trucking, and flexible hours of operation.
Marion County is the number one producer of agricultural products in the state of Oregon, including grass seed and hay products, which are shipped year-round around the country and exported overseas to supplement the feeding of livestock.
Conservative projections estimate first year container volume (CV) at 44,000, which is essentially the last three-year average BNSF shipped in and out of the Port of Portland’s T6 yard before ending service in 2022. We have roughly 75 to 80% of projected first-year revenue (approximately 35,000 export containers) backed by letters of intent from shippers for this new facility, including BNSF customers who were underserved at T6. In addition, BNSF has interest from additional steamship lines to use our new intermodal facility to deliver containers from SEATAC to OPW. Additionally, a 3.8 million square foot Amazon fulfillment center is located 1.5 miles away and has the potential to substantially increase the CV handled at OPW. Comparable Amazon facilities import an average of 250 to 300 truckloads and containers each day.
Phase 1 of the new facility includes the acquisition of approximately 300 acres of greenfield space to be designated as the OPW site. The new site includes an administrative office, mechanical maintenance shop, hard-surfaced rail yard capable of handling two 8,000-foot length unit trains at once, and 4,000 empty container storage capacity. Additional space will be available for hay pressing, loading facilities, warehousing, and cross dock transload facilities.
Phase 2 expansion will accommodate a third 8,000-foot length unit train rail track and increase annual container volume capacity from 150,000 to 300,000.
Phase 3 includes opportunities for a Logistics Park to be constructed on additional 200 acres for the development of 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 square feet of warehouse and distribution centers with rail access.
For more information, please call Development Director Stew Stone with any questions. (503) 559-3013.