Tacoma is the heavy-industrial, port-anchored, project-cargo half of the Puget Sound. Where Seattle skews aerospace, tech, and Kent Valley e-commerce distribution, Tacoma is RoRo autos, forage and log exports, breakbulk machinery, JBLM contract freight, and the Tideflats cold chain. The Northwest Seaport Alliance — the Tacoma-Seattle marine cargo partnership formed in 2015 — moved approximately 3.34 million TEUs in 2024, a 12.3 percent year-over-year increase, making it the 6th-busiest container gateway in North America. Tacoma\'s South Harbor terminals carry the disproportionate share of NWSA\'s 730,488 domestic TEUs (Alaska and Hawaii trade), the bulk of NWSA breakbulk and project cargo, and a top-5 US RoRo auto-import position.
Tacoma also runs the country\'s leading hay and forage export gateway — NWSA exported roughly 611,806 TEUs of forage in 2024 to Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and China. The origin geography for that trade — Columbia Basin alfalfa and timothy from Ellensburg, Quincy, Moses Lake, Walla Walla, Sunnyside, and the Yakima Valley — sits in Evergreen\'s home territory.
Evergreen Shippers (FMCSA MC#896325) is the Spokane-anchored transportation broker for Tacoma freight. Spokane sits 310 miles east of the Port of Tacoma via I-5 north to I-90 east through Snoqualmie Pass — a single driving day. The structural pitch versus Tacoma-local competitors: every container cleared at NWSA bound for Eastern Washington, North Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, or Minnesota transits Spokane. Evergreen owns the inland half of that lane. Empty-return economics, driver pools, and trailer oversight all favor a broker headquartered in the corridor.
Tacoma drayage is a saturated, locally dominated market — Shippers Transport Express, ConGlobal, Pacific Coast Express, Stryder USA, and the chassis pool operators (DCLI, TRAC Intermodal, ConGlobal) run the gate-to-yard short haul. We do not compete with them on the dray; we partner with them. Evergreen\'s edge is the line haul east: 310 miles to Spokane, then onward to Coeur d\'Alene, Missoula, Billings, Bismarck, Fargo, Minneapolis. Containers headed inland from NWSA are our home lane.
I-90 between Tacoma and Spokane crosses Snoqualmie Pass at 3,022 feet elevation. WSDOT chain restrictions run November through March; occasional 24 to 48 hour closures for avalanche control are normal in heavy-snow winters. Spokane-based dispatch monitors WSDOT pass conditions hourly, pre-positions carriers on the Eastern Washington side, and re-routes via US-2 Stevens Pass or US-12 White Pass when Snoqualmie is closed. Tacoma-only brokers feel pass weather; Spokane-anchored dispatch owns it.
NWSA import imbalance creates persistent empty-container repositioning pressure. Spokane functions as the natural inland consolidation point for empties flowing back to Tacoma and for outbound exports flowing toward the port. A broker who can pair an eastbound loaded line haul with a westbound empty (or with a Columbia Basin hay or forage container heading to the port) has a material rate advantage over a one-way Tacoma broker.
Tacoma Tideflats to Spokane is a single solo driving day under 11-hour HOS. Team drivers turn it as a fast round trip. The route — I-5 north to Renton, I-405 east, I-90 east over Snoqualmie, across the Columbia Plateau via Vantage, into Spokane — is well understood by Evergreen\'s carrier network. Reverse direction (Spokane to NWSA gate) often pairs with a Columbia Basin hay, potato, or apple origin pickup on the inland side, eliminating the deadhead.
| Terminal | Operator / Notes | Berth / Depth | Reefer Plugs | Vessel Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Husky Terminal | Husky Terminal & Stevedoring · on-dock rail (NIM) | 2,960 ft / -51 ft MLLW | 590 | 24,000 TEU capable (8 super post-Panamax cranes) |
| Washington United (WUT) | HMM subsidiary · 52-railcar on-dock rail | 2,600 ft / -51 ft | 884 | 18,000 TEU capable |
| Pierce County (PCT) | NWSA · 23,544 ft on-dock rail (PIM) | 184 acres | — | 14,000 TEU capable |
| East Sitcum (renamed 2025; formerly Olympic Container Terminal / OCT) | NWSA · 50,000 sq ft breakbulk warehouse on site | 1,000+ ft / -51 ft | 300 | 5,500 TEU + breakbulk |
| Terminal 7 | Primary auto / RoRo / breakbulk berth · NIM on-dock rail + 2 rail spurs | 2,700 ft / -51 ft | — | RoRo car carriers + breakbulk |
| East Blair 1 | Breakbulk paired with Terminal 7 (project cargo, wind components) | — | — | Project cargo / breakbulk |
Rail: South Intermodal Yard (SIM) is the BNSF-operated marine intermodal hub, 17 acres, 8,565 feet of mainline, more than 50,000 annual lifts. North Intermodal Yard (NIM) serves Husky and Terminal 7. PCT Intermodal Yard (PIM) is on-dock at PCT. BNSF SIG Yard is the separate domestic intermodal hub. Sources: NWSA terminal pages, BNSF press releases.
The port-designated MIC anchors approximately 10.8 million square feet of warehousing and logistics plus 2.6 million square feet of manufacturing across roughly 2,500 acres of Port-owned industrial land. Tenants include marine terminal operators, NewCold Tacoma automated cold storage (greater than 25 million cubic feet, anchored by Trident Seafoods), Foss Maritime, and the breakbulk / project cargo handlers feeding Terminal 7 and East Blair 1. Reefer dispatch for seafood (Alaska RoRo via TOTE Maritime), refrigerated van for produce-to-port lanes, and flatbed for project cargo discharge.
Boeing Frederickson builds the composite tail section for the 787 and the 777X (the 777X composite wings are built at the Composite Wing Center in Everett, not Frederickson — a common misattribution). Adjacent: Toray Composites America, the Japanese-owned carbon fiber supplier feeding Boeing. Aerospace freight discipline applies — flatbed and step-deck for tooling, refrigerated for carbon fiber prepreg, cleanroom-grade dry van for finished composite sections, JIT delivery windows measured in hours rather than days. See our PNW Aerospace Freight page for the full equipment-match capability.
The SR-167 / I-5 spine south of Auburn anchors the regional distribution cluster. REI\'s primary distribution center sits at 1700 45th St E in Sumner. The Costco Sumner depot (Depot 171) at 4000 142nd Ave E is a major regional consolidation point. The Tacoma Logistics Center and Sumner Distribution Center carry large-block tenants (the latter a 441,358 SF GSA full-building lease, the former a 444,428 SF SBS Transportation renewal in late 2024). Brown & Haley has manufactured Almond Roca in Tacoma\'s Dome District continuously since 1912 and retained local manufacturing through a 2024 international merger.
South of Tacoma along I-5, Lakewood and DuPont house Class A logistics adjacent to Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) — the only Army power-projection base in the continental US west of the Rockies. Regional LTL carriers cluster at the SR-512 / I-5 interchange. Commercial freight to JBLM runs through SDDC tenders and Defense Transportation Coordination Initiative (DTCI) channels; TWIC-credentialed carriers with appropriate access discipline are the operational standard.
NWSA exported approximately 611,806 TEUs of hay and forage in 2024. Japan alone accounted for 86,184 TEUs of NWSA trade. Compress plants in Ellensburg, Quincy, Moses Lake, Walla Walla, Sunnyside, and the Yakima Valley produce alfalfa and timothy hay that is compressed into export-ready containers and shipped to Asia and the Middle East. Origin-to-compress dry van and reefer dispatch is in Evergreen\'s back yard.
Terminal 7 is Tacoma\'s primary RoRo berth. Q1 2024 NWSA auto throughput hit 89,703 units (+9.5 percent year-over-year). Single-largest historical discharge: 4,818 vehicles plus 6 high-and-heavies off the Glovis Composer in 2017. Active car-carrier lines include Hyundai / GLOVIS America, Wallenius Wilhelmsen, K-Line, and NYK. Inland auto distribution from Tacoma is a regular flatbed and enclosed-van category.
Terminal 7 and East Blair 1 anchor NWSA breakbulk; East Sitcum adds 50,000 square feet of on-site breakbulk warehouse. Discharged cargo includes wind turbine blades and tower sections, large power transformers, mining equipment for the Inland Northwest copper / silver / molybdenum mines, and factory components. Equipment match: multi-axle RGN with jeep and booster for tower sections, telescopic blade trailers, Schnabel for the largest transformers, flatbed for crated machinery.
NewCold Tacoma, anchored by Trident Seafoods, is one of the largest automated cold-storage facilities in the country at more than 25 million cubic feet. Alaska seafood arrives via TOTE Maritime RoRo twice weekly; Lynden and Carlile Transportation feed the Alaska / Canada surface network. Reefer dispatch from the port inland for produce backhaul, frozen seafood national distribution, and Tideflats cold-storage rotation.
The only CONUS Army power-projection base west of the Rockies sits 9 miles south-southwest of Tacoma. Sealift cargo discharges at Tacoma\'s Terminal 7 and moves overland to base. SDDC and DTCI tenders drive the commercial truck capacity; FEMA and government load capability sits in the same operational discipline of carrier vetting, insurance verification, and on-time appointment compliance.
Historic Weyerhaeuser-anchored log export shipping continues from Tacoma to Asia, materially smaller than 1980s peak but still a recurring category. The 2023 closure of WestRock Tacoma Mill removed 510,000 tons per year of linerboard, kraft bag, and pulp capacity from the Tideflats — we do not list WestRock as an active shipper. Active forest-product dispatch remains via the regional sawmill network feeding Tacoma export and Inland Northwest sawmills moving lumber to coastal ports. See our PNW Lumber & Forest Products page for the equipment-match detail.
Reefer plug capacity, chassis availability, and gate turn times are the recurring operational constraint. Late-gate carriers reschedule with per-diem on containers. We sequence dispatch against the appointment system with a vetted Tacoma drayage partner, then hand off the line haul east at the gate.
NWSA drayage capacity tightens as pre-2007 engines age out. We maintain partnerships with compliant Tacoma dray operators and supplement with the first wave of zero-emission drayage trucks deploying in 2026. Our line-haul tractors are not subject to terminal-gate engine rules.
Imbalanced inbound / outbound flows create empty repositioning costs. Spokane consolidation is our structural answer — eastbound loaded containers pair with empty westbound (or with a Columbia Basin hay container moving the other direction) to neutralize the deadhead.
Pass restrictions, chain controls, and full closures for avalanche control affect every Tacoma-to-Inland freight movement. Spokane-anchored dispatch monitors WSDOT hourly, re-routes via US-2 Stevens Pass or US-12 White Pass when needed, and pre-positions Eastern WA carriers.
Tacoma project discharge (wind, transformers, mining) requires Pierce County / WSDOT permits, potential onward state permits (ID, MT, OR, CA), pilot car and police escort dispatch, and bridge rating analysis. This is Evergreen\'s core flatbed / heavy-haul discipline — not a side capability.
1,774 reefer plugs across Husky + WUT + East Sitcum plus the NewCold Tacoma footprint mean the cold-chain freight is a constant operational layer. We dispatch with reefer pre-cool, plug-time tracking, and dock-temperature confirmation as standard, particularly for seafood and forage export.
Call (509) 321-4380 — terminal, container number, commodity, inland destination. We sequence the drayage partner, line-haul the inland 310 miles, and own the eastbound corridor home.