Port of Coos Bay Submits Mega Grant Proposal to Support Oregon Intermodal Project

The PCIP project will include systemwide upgrades to the Coos Bay Rail Line.

Oregon International Port of Coos Bay and NorthPoint Development have submitted a Mega Grant proposal to support the Pacific Coast Intermodal Port (PCIP) project, which will create a new gateway for West Coast imports and exports for the movement of containers through the Port.

Once constructed, the state-of-the-art facility is expected to handle 1.2 million containers per year and support approximately 2,500 direct jobs in Coos, Douglas and Lane Counties.

According to the Port of Coos Bay, the PCIP project will consist of three inextricable components, including:

• Deepening and widening the Coos Bay Federal Navigation Channel.
• Systemwide upgrades to the Coos Bay Rail Line (CBRL).
• Construction of the rail served maritime terminal on Port owned property on the North Spit.

If successful, according to the Port, funding through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Mega Grant Program will be utilized to support improvements to public assets, including the Federal Navigation Channel and the CBRL. NorthPoint Development will fund the construction of the terminal itself.

The Channel Modification will include deepening the channel from its entrance to River Mile 8.2 from -37’ to -45’ Mean Lowest Low Water and widen it from 300’ to 450’ nominal width. The purpose of this work, the Port says, will be to accommodate transit of larger Neopanamax ships in the harbor, capable of carrying up to 13,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). The Port says it is working closely with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in development and design of the project, which will also be subject to a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and completion of a full NEPA process, which is being done in partnership with various regulatory bodies. 

Improvements to the CBRL will include modification to the nine tunnels along the line to accommodate double stacked container traffic, the addition of sidings throughout the mainline to facilitate the additional movement of six-unit trains moving outbound and six-unit trains traveling inbound. Extensive work will be completed to the track and bridges throughout the line to add capacity and improve the overall condition of the infrastructure. 

NorthPoint will construct the rail served marine terminal, which will consist of crane served ship berths and an extensive rail yard. The terminal, the Port says, will be uniquely designed for direct ship to rail and rail to ship movements, which will “minimize container handling, add efficiencies in operations, and reduce emissions from container handling at the terminal.”

To date, the Port and NorthPoint Development have received $60 million in funding committed by the State of Oregon, as well as expression of bipartisan support from the State and Federal legislators throughout the U.S., understanding the need for additional container capacity on the West Coast. More than 100 letters of support have been compiled from various stakeholder groups and will be submitted with the grant proposal.