A new video produced by the Port of Tacoma offers a report to the community on key accomplishments over the past year.
“The Port of Tacoma made significant strides in 2025, and we are well-positioned for a successful 2026,” said Commission President Dick Marzano.
The 2026 State of the Port video features projects like the Maritime Center under construction along the Foss Waterway.
The Port is building a business office next door to Tacoma Public Schools’ new Maritime|253 skills center, which will provide high school students from across Pierce County with access to career training.
In the video, Port leaders also highlight plans to deepen and widen the Blair Waterway to increase cargo capacity and keep the Port competitive.
“The state of your Port is strong, and so is our unwavering commitment to serving this community,” said Executive Director Eric Johnson.
The 2026 State of the Port video includes progress reports on the key focus areas in the Port of Tacoma’s Strategic Plan: Economic Vitality, Workforce Development, Environmental Leadership, Operational Success, Transportation Advocacy, and Community Connections.
Economic Vitality
The Port of Tacoma supports commerce and family wage jobs that power the region. The Port’s business include container shipping terminals, breakbulk and bulk terminals, car imports, and real estate.
In 2025, a new analysis detailed the economic impact of Port-related activities.
It found the Port of Tacoma’s lines of business, combined with cargo operations in the South Harbor managed by The Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA), support more than 41,000 jobs throughout the region.
That translates to $3.4 billion in wages and benefits, and more than $10 billion in economic output.
In 2025, the NWSA and the Puyallup Tribe of Indians signed a historic memorandum of understanding to jointly develop a new breakbulk terminal, and the Port and the Tribe worked together on advance preparations needed to widen the Blair Waterway to creating room for the new terminal.
And the Port continues planning to deepen the waterway and berth areas by six feet to stay competitive in the global shipping business.
Workforce Development
The Port seeks to connect people in Pierce County with family wage jobs and address a shortage of workers in the trades and the maritime industry, a commitment exemplified by the partnership with Tacoma Public Schools to develop the Maritime Center, which includes the Maritime|253 skills center.
In 2025, Port staff reached more than 2,400 people at 15 career fairs and events, and supported Tacoma Public Schools’ Tideflats Certification Program.
Through the Port’s contract with Workforce Central that connects adults to careers in the trades, 80 percent of the 46 participants in 2025 found jobs by the end of the year.
The Port also expanded its partnership with Workforce Central to support the Youth Marine Foundation’s Seamanship Readiness Program on the training vessel Doolin-Rogers.
Each year, the program will enroll 60 participants, including 30 who will earn their merchant mariner credentials.
Environmental Leadership
In November 2025, Port Commissioners adopted an updated Clean Air Implementation Plan that outlines the steps planned over the next five years to reduce emissions from Port operations.
The Northwest Seaport Alliance completed commissioning of shore power at Husky Terminal, which allows equipped ships to plug into the electric grid and shut down their diesel engines while at berth, significantly reducing emissions.
The Port also expanded its electric vehicle fleet and prepared to install more than 22,000 square feet of solar panels on the new Port business office at the Maritime Center.
Preparing the Maritime Center site for construction required removing tens of thousands of tons of contaminated soil and more than 300 creosote piles from the waterway.
The Maritime Center became the first project in Tacoma to earn a Salmon-Safe certification, which recognizes projects that protect water quality and salmon habitat during construction and through ongoing site management.
Across the Tideflats, the Port continued advancing several active efforts to clean up contaminated land and return it to productive use.
Organizational Success
In 2025, the Port updated the Strategic Plan for the next five years, including a refreshed vision statement, which reads: “The Port of Tacoma is a national model for innovative solutions, job creation, customer service, and environmental sustainability for generations to come.”
In 2025, the Port’s maintenance department achieved 100% stormwater compliance and a 99.8% reliability rate for cranes at Husky Terminal.
The Port’s IT department also oversaw deployment of a new private 5G network to improve connectivity and efficiency.
The Port also took new steps to prepare for emergencies, by hosting a two-day regional response exercise for first responders focused on vessel fires.
The event included a tour of a roll-on, roll-off vessel to familiarize local firefighters with ship layouts and vessel operators’ emergency protocols.
Transportation Advocacy
The Port of Tacoma advocates for effective transportation connections that keep commerce flowing.
2026 will bring a major milestone for a project the Port has supported for decades when the Washington State Department of Transportation opens the new State Route 167 expressway between the Port and I-5 in 2026.
Completing SR167 will improve traffic flow for trucks – and for everyone who travels through the region.
More than a decade ago, the Port helped build a coalition to secure state funding for the project, and to date has contributed 30 million dollars toward its completion.
The Port also continued to support another major transportation project, led by the City of Fife, that will improve the I-5 - Port of Tacoma Road interchange.
2025 also brought a successful conclusion to a years-long effort to plan the future of the Tacoma Tideflats, an area recognized as a major industrial and maritime hub.
Five local governments, including the Port, collaborated to develop the Tideflats Subarea Plan, which the Tacoma City Council adopted in December.
The plan creates a coordinated approach to land use, environmental protection, and infrastructure investment, balancing growth, honoring tribal rights, and ensuring sustainable development.
Community Connections
In 2025, the Port of Tacoma engaged with thousands of people across Pierce County.
Coffee with Commissioners events invite people to get a behind the scenes look at local businesses and meet with their elected Port leaders.
In 2025, Commissioners met with community members at an Amazon warehouse and aboard the Doolin-Rogers, the training ship for the Youth Marine Foundation.
Last spring, the Port launched a new speaker series called Ports and Popcorn, which welcomed people to the Grand Cinema in Tacoma to learn about maritime-related topics.
The Port reached more than four thousand people through community events like farmers’ markets and festivals in addition to our environmental staff helping to host a beach cleanup, Salmon Homecoming, and family friendly walks in Port habitat sites.
The most popular events involved inviting the public to the Port of Tacoma.
In 2025, the Port offered 35 free bus tours, giving participants a firsthand look at seaport operations.
Demand for the Port’s free annual boat tours continues to be strong, and in September the Port welcomed more than 1,600 people aboard.
The Port’s largest event was Touch-a-Truck, a family friendly gathering that drew more than 3,000 people to the parking lot outside the Port’s administration building, where kids and their families could explore the trucks, trains and large equipment used in port operations.