02/21/05 Getting product to port

Washington Ag February 21, 2005 A lot of Washington's agricultural products move into international trade through the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, but getting from eastern Washington to the ports is becoming more difficult. Howard Granger, of the Inland Northwest Office of the Port of Seattle, told a Spokane Ag Bureau luncheon Friday, he sees two main issues for inland shippers. Granger: "We gotta fix Snoqualmie Pass. Make that an all year round road. Right now there are difficulties getting stuff over there in the winter time with pass closures and this, that and the other thing. Another thing is double tracking the railroad because there is a certain amount of business that would like to get on the rail and go west to the ports but it is competing with other traffic that the Burlington Northern has a commitment to be it Amtrak, unit trains of coal and wheat, containers, this, that and the other. So it is forcing the ag industry to move more of their products that are bound for export by road up over Snoqualmie Pass and it's getting worse." And Granger says with the demise of containerized steamship service on the Columbia River, more agricultural products from the Palouse and eastern Oregon are being forced onto the highways and over Snoqualmie to get to the ports. I'm Bob Hoff.