Surprise: Coast Guard Abandons Plans for Port’s Coveted Pier 46

The Seattle and Tacoma ports fought the U.S. Coast Guard’s original plan to acquire up to 53 acres of the long-vacant Terminal 46 for new patrol vessel berths. But once environmental reviews were finished, the two ports expected the Coast Guard would move quickly to buy at least some of the Duwamish River property. 

So it was a surprise recently when the Coast Guard reversed course and said it was giving up on buying new berth space on T-46, for now. The service cited port economic impacts, environmental costs, and tribal fishing-rights conflicts. Instead, the service may look elsewhere to homeport its new ships, potentially taking millions of dollars in wages and maritime economic activity with them.

Just last week, the service announced the first two of a new fleet of Arctic Security Cutters will be based in Alaska. Those vessels are scheduled for delivery in 2028. The decision does not affect the Coast Guard’s plans to upgrade its World War II-era Base Seattle at Pier 36, just to the south of T-46, in what is calls the “the largest civil engineering and environmental remediation project in the history of the Coast Guard.”

The Coast Guard plans to invest $323 million at Pier base for modernization, dredging, and construction of berths for three new Polar Security Cutters and the icebreaker Healy. The base also houses the Puget Sound regional vessel-traffic control, regional joint terrorism center, crew housing, and other support activities. In its decision, the Coast Guard said Pier 36 is badly in need of improvements but decided that that “substantial expansion of Base Seattle would result in significant impacts to environmental, economic, and Tribal treaty resources,’’ and therefore would seek no additional property for vessel docks.

The icebreaker and additional polar-security ships will ensure “continuity of support for the ice-breaking program and allowing for increased Coast Guard presence in and around the Arctic and Antarctic.” The Polar Security Cutters can break through both Arctic and heavier Antarctic ice, while the Arctic cutters are limited to the northern ice regions.

In the case of T-46, the Coast Guard was seeking space for two berths and support facilities for two new offshore cutters. In its 2024 environmental review, the service proposed a range of options from just a few acres up to 54 acres of the 86-acre container terminal. The Coast Guard said basing ships near its regional headquarters in Seattle makes the most operational sense, with support and repair facilities close at hand.

Several years ago, during a downturn in container traffic, the NWSA — a joint venture of Seattle and Tacoma ports — had extensive discussions with the Coast Guard about how the ports could generally support the service’s growing needs in Seattle — but not specifically expansion to T-46.

After the Coast Guard announced plans to acquire land at T-46, however, the Alliance launched vigorous opposition. The Alliance, backed by its longshore union allies, were adamant that Terminal 46 should remain a container-shipping facility, even though international container ships stopped calling there in 2019. A March 2023 resolution said the service “should seek to minimize impacts to marine cargo operations to the maximum extent possible.” The service also faced expensive river clean-up costs and concerns from Muckleshoot and Suquamish tribes about fishing conflicts.

“We appreciate that the U.S. Coast Guard incorporated community and stakeholder feedback into their decision, especially the recognition of the vital role marine cargo activities play in our region’s economy,” the Alliance said. The decision “is consistent with the previously adopted NWSA Managing Members’ Resolution and the preservation of cargo operations at Terminal 46 in Seattle’s North Harbor.” Longshore Local 19 also endorsed the decision.

Since international cargo shipping at T-46 halted in 2019, business has been limited to occasional bulk cargo and auto storage. More recently, the NWSA’s 71-acre Terminal 30 further to the south was closed due to legal issues and low cargo volumes. The terminal operator, SSA, paid the ports $82 million as a penalty for walking away from its lease. A Seaport Alliance joint venture with a private investment firm is exploring long-term maritime cargo uses at T-46 under a 12-month agreement, but no progress has been reported yet.

The Alliance has been slow to recover from the global pandemic, due to changing global markets, Trump Administration tariffs, and aggressive Canadian competition for U.S.-bound Asian cargo. Combined cargo volume through Seattle and Tacoma harbors hit a peak of 3.8 million container units, falling to 3 million in 2023, and rose to 3.2 million units in 2025.

The Coast Guard’s decision to pull back from acquiring T-46 land still puzzles the Alliance and many industry observers. Opposition from the ports and longshore labor was well-known when the Coast Guard launched its environmental studies. Those studies downplayed the impacts, saying that the Alliance would have plenty of cargo capacity for years to come and that growing Base Seattle would add 1,000 new jobs and other economic activity, which would offset the loss of shipping jobs. Environmental clean-up and tribal conflicts were also expected and could be addressed through tribal negotiations.

The big questions now are about the Coast Guard’s next steps for choosing a homeport for the additional patrol vessels. The service is on track to build 14 new Arctic and Polar cutters. While announcing it was shelving plans now for T-46 berths, a subsequent statement seemed to leave the door open for another look — possibly once the Seaport Alliance’s joint-venture study clarifies potential maritime cargo uses there.

In its follow-up statement, the Coast Guard said halting efforts for T-46 berths “meets current mission needs, reflects current property acquisition availability, and avoids the more significant impacts of other options.” For the future, however, the Coast Guard said it would “continue working with the Port of Seattle and regional partners to evaluate future expansion opportunities, including plans for up to four additional major cutters at Base Seattle.”

Seattle Port Commissioner Fred Felleman acknowledged the Coast Guard’s reversal “caught us by surprise.” Felleman championed a compromise that would shift the new vessel berths south of Pier 36, possibly using some of T-30’s empty land. The Coast Guard viewed that option as too expensive and environmentally complex. “Are they going away or can we re-visit this at a later date?’’ Felleman asked. The ports’ chilly response to the Coast Guard may have influenced the decision, he said. “People like to feel welcomed,” Felleman said. “It’s clear to us we didn’t roll out the red carpet.”

To Felleman, the “one big upside’’ of the Coast Guard’s decision is that it clarifies that most of the 88-acre T-46 will be available for a new maritime development. The potential for Coast Guard expansion could have complicated private project negotiations. Felleman holds out hope the Coast Guard will revisit further expansion in Seattle. “I would rather see red hulls (Coast Guard ships) than no hulls,” he said.

For one veteran of Seattle’s maritime industry, the loss would be hard to rationalize given the terminals standing empty along the Duwamish. “If you have a fish on the line, and the sea is barren, why would you cut the line?” he said. “If haven’t heard (the ports) have any fish.”

As more time passes and the terminals on prime waterfront sites remain dark, pressures for commercial development to replace the terminals will likely grow. “I agree the development pressure is huge,’’ Felleman said, which should give the NWSA plenty of incentive to step up efforts to land a maritime customer for T-46.