We were invited by Alma, Helen's cousin to a meeting and potluck put on by a local senior club, called the Primtimers. A lecture was given, put on by the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay . The Guest speaker was Martin Callary, Director of Communications & Freight Mobility, to discuss development of an intermodal container terminal on the North Spit of lower Coos Bay.
Great get together and good food. We had the chance to meet a lot of nice local people.
The main lecture addressed what the Port of Coos Bay's plan is for the upcoming years. As everyone is aware there is an increasing demand for more product coming into the United States from other foreign countries, as well as exporting goods and products. The way Coos Bay is currently set up it does not have the capabilities to take on large container ships, that would bring in containerized materials for short time storage, as well as shipping materials out via railroad and or trucking. Their idea is to deepen the main channel to at least 50 feet deep to accommodate these larger ships that are capably of carrying 7400 + TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit). Thus they will have to create some area along an unpopulated area to the north of Coos Bay for storage and shipping terminals.
CARGO CONTAINER SHIP
This will create an additional 4800 jobs, which will not necessary mean it will employee all these personnel from the general Coos Bay area. They also want to bring in a large ships that can unload Natural gas for storage at the same site. This is where all the Imports & Exports would be stored. Actually they pretty well have this thing well planned. The EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) should be approved hopefully in about 3 years or so. Will be real interesting viewing the EIS for the project.
See an air photo of the planned location for the storage area.
http://www.portofcoosbay.com/weycopp.htm
The North end of the maps shows all the areas for the new proposed terminal. Roseburg Forest Products, South Port, & Weyerhauser.
The storage area and deepening of the main channel will take place along the North Bay. There will be no enlarging of anything East of the locations shown on the map. The City of Coos Bay will not be adversely impacted.
One of the main concerns I have heard from locals is the storage and transportation of gas, which is a just concern, but from where the site is located it should be of minimum concern. The only problem would be the transportation by rail or truck from that location.
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