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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Port Of Tacoma Starts Work On New Terminal

From Staff And Wire Reports

The Port of Tacoma begins construction this month on a $60 million container terminal for Hyundai Merchant Marine.

Port commissioners have awarded a $15.6 million contract to American Construction Co. Inc. of Woodinville to build a 2,000-foot pier at West Blair terminal.

“We’re still under budget,” Curtis Ratcliffe, the port’s chief engineer, told commissioners last week.

The 60-acre terminal could eventually be expanded to 100 acres if the Korean shipping line exercises all of its options.

Hyundai officials have said they hope to begin operating at the facility early in 1999.

Contractors will build the pier in two 1,000-foot sections to take into account a “fish window” designed to help salmon survival by banning construction work in the waterway itself from mid-March until midsummer.

Hyundai Merchant Marine, with $2.6 billion in revenue last year, is the Port of Seattle’s biggest container shipping customer.