Washington and California River Ports Emerging as Quiet Maritime Powerhouses
California’s River Ports
Total waterborne trade through Northern California’s Port of Stockton in the first half of this year was down by 16.4% by tonnage and 21.7% by value from the first half of 2024. Import tonnage through the San Joaquin River port was off by 14.8%, led by a 33.0% fall in imports of fertilizers. Export tonnage meanwhile sustained a 19.8% decline, with shipments abroad of rice dropping by 42.9% from last year’s first half. As recently as 2024, Stockton ranked as the nation’s second largest rice exporting port, trailing only the Port of New Orleans. So far this year, it has slipped behind the Port of Oakland and the Port of Baton Rouge into the fourth spot.
A controversy is currently embroiling the nearby Port of West Sacramento. The Yolo County Port’s Commission is currently fighting a lawsuit filed by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and its Local 18 alleging that the recent demolition of a warehouse and conveyor system represents a threat to the port’s commercial viability. The Commission maintains that those facilities had grown obsolete and used the value of the recycled steel to offset the demolition cost. However, the ILWU sees these moves as a prelude to eventually shutting down oceanborne trade through the port. A related controversy involves a plan to bridge the channel used by ocean carriers to serve the port. The least costly proposed bridge would effectively bar that traffic. This would not be the first time the port’s role in international trade has been under assault. Back in 2003, a group of local officials sought to transform the port into a regional water sports center surrounded by residential developments. That move failed after opposition surfaced in the Sacramento Bee and prompted the Sacramento Area Council of Governments to launch a study of the region’s long-term international goods movement needs.
Washington State’s Columbia River Ports
Although the Ports of Tacoma and Seattle first pop into mind when discussing Washington State’s maritime trade, it is worth noting that three less conspicuous ports on the state’s side of the Columbia River regularly handle more export tonnage than do the two Northwest Seaport Alliance ports. Those river ports are the Ports of Kalama, Longview, and Vancouver (WA).
Tonnage does not equate to value, however. Still, as Exhibit 13 indicates, the three bulk shipment river ports in Washington State have also been handling substantial share of the dollar value of the Evergreen State’s maritime exports.
The historic trends detailed above have continued into 2025, as the state’s three Columbia River ports have been handling almost twice the export tonnage that has been passing through the Ports of Tacoma and Seattle. Through July, the Ports of Kalama, Longview, and Vancouver have handled 17,936,134 metric tons of exports as opposed to the 9,659,857 metric tons that have been shipped from the NWSA ports. However, the NWSA ports this year have moved ahead with $7.545 billion in exports against $5.009 billion for the three river ports.