The Port of Bremerton is proceeding with plans to expand the downtown Bremerton marina to accommodate up to 191 tenants, providing for permanent slips as well as the current guest moorage.

To get the expansion rolling, the first move will be to relocate the Harbormaster’s quarters and washroom building, which presently are located on adjacent land being developed by OPUS/Northwest as part of Bremerton Mayor Cary Bozeman’s waterfront renovation project. OPUS is currently making plans for a new waterfront complex featuring a modern hotel, convention center and restaurant. This promises to elevate the Bremerton waterfront from its current dismal state to something the city can be proud of, and will go a long way toward promoting expanded business both for the Port and for the Kitsap peninsula.

The most exciting news this month is in an unexpected direction: the Port has signed an historic three-party agreement to link up with the Port of Gray’s Harbor via the rail line operated by the Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad. The Port of Gray’s Harbor, which is Washington’s second oldest deep-water port, was established in 1911. The Port of Seattle was opened a year earlier.

This is an exciting development for the Port of Bremerton, with the potential of providing local businesses with a direct link over which they will be able to send and receive shipments to and from overseas customers by ocean freight, without having to contend with the traffic snarls that are becoming ever more ominous in Seattle and Tacoma.

The PS&P Railroad operates trains out of Elma, in the south-central part of the peninsula, branching west to Gray’s Harbor and south to Chehalis over its own track, and north to Bremerton and Bangor over track owned by the Navy. The Chehalis link allows local shippers to connect directly with the nation’s primary rail system via the Burlington Northern and Union Pacific railroads.

PS&P runs between five and six trains a week between Bremerton and Gray’s Harbor (daily Monday through Friday, and sometimes on Saturday, as well).

The Port of Gray’s Harbor currently operates four terminals, and provides space for two private terminals, one of which is owned by Weyerhauser. Len Barnes, public relations manager, said the Port held a grand opening of a new rail loop and bulk loading facility on July 19, marking another step along the road to full shipping capability.

The Port has expanded its freight handling capacity from 7,000 freight cars per year four years ago to its present rate of 15,000 cars per year. It has plenty of warehouse space available for shippers, and is eager to expand this vital part of the northwest’s trade operations with Pacific Rim nations.

One of the principal benefits from the new agreement will be substantial reductions in shipping time and costs. Instead of having to fight the ever-present traffic holdups over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which inevitably will worsen as the new bridge construction begins, shippers will be able to load shipments directly onto freight cars in Bremerton. Transit time to Gray’s Harbor will be two hours, saving up to a day and a half of transit time needed for freighters to thread their way out through the Sound and the Straits. And of course time translates to money.

The Port of Bremerton has access to the county-owned spur line connecting the Olympic View Industrial Park to the PS&P rail line, so industrial park businesses will have the added advantage of being able to load and offload shipments right at their place of business – another reason businesses are finding the rapidly growing business park attractive.