A proposed port rail connection could bring new industry to the Bellingham Shipping Terminal

The Port of Bellingham is taking steps to facilitate more shipping industries along the waterfront by applying for federal grants to re-establish a rail connection from the Bellingham Shipping Terminal to the BNSF Mainline.

“One of the impediments to growth at our terminal is the lack of rail,” said Port of Bellingham Executive Director Rob Fix in a presentation for the Bellingham City Council on May 6.

Historically, the terminal had a rail connection to the Mainline but BNSF removed it after Georgia-Pacific shut down its Pulp, Paper and Chemical Plant on Bellingham’s waterfront in 2001.

“The Shipping Terminal is the Port’s biggest potential job-creating asset and many potential shipping customers we talk with require a rail connection,” said Port of Bellingham Public Affairs Administrator Michael Hogan in an email to The Bellingham Herald. “Having a rail connection also allows seamless and clean cargo movement rather than relying on trucks for transport.”

The terminal used to be a major transfer point for logs, pulp and aluminum. Since consistent activity started back up at the terminal in 2017, logs, rocks and metal scraps have mainly been exported there.

Potential future shipments could include bagged cargo and aggregate, which do not require a rail connection.

The Port is also exploring opportunities to transport off-shore wind turbines and automobiles, which both prefer a rail connection to operate in and out of a port facility. Both are potential customers the Port hopes to contract with when a rail connection is established, according to Hogan.

The rail connection would also help reduce pressure on other nearby port facilities currently operating beyond their capacity, Hogan told The Herald.

“The Port of Vancouver, BC serves more than a dozen of the world’s top auto manufacturers, but their Canadian automobile terminals are often congested causing delays in getting the automobiles to market,” Hogan said.

The Port would own the rail connection and the land under the track. The connection would join the Mainline between Cornwall Street and Laurel Street. It wouldn’t cross any existing city streets, according to Fix.

Any future street crossing with the railroad would be quiet zone compatible, Fix told the Bellingham City Council.

Re-establishing a rail connection to the Bellingham Shipping Terminal depends on the Port’s ability to secure grant funding. Port officials are currently applying for several federal infrastructure grants expected to be awarded by the end of 2024 or early 2025, Hogan said.

“If we do receive a federal grant, we anticipate it will take three years to complete the engineering, permitting and construction; so the rail connection would be ready in 2028,” Hogan said.

The project would cost about $15 million, according to Fix.

According to a 2013 study by the economic consulting firm Martin Associates, businesses and industries at the Port of Bellingham directly or indirectly affected more than 8,700 jobs and generated nearly $900 million in commerce and tax revenue, including:

▪ $144.3 million of local purchases.

▪ $406.4 million in total direct, induced and indirect personal earnings.

▪ $38 million in state and local taxes, plus $11 million in federal taxes related to airport operations.

In 2016, the Center of Economic and Business Research at Western Washington University found that the port’s economic impact is felt broadly across Whatcom County, where it makes up roughly 7% of the workforce, according to previous reporting by The Bellingham Herald.