Big Ships are Bringing Big Waterfront Changes

The Longshoremen’s work slowdown that snarled west coast ports for nine months is over, leaving behind bitter memories and billions in economic damages. But the global trends that foreshadowed that port disruption remain.

Big container ships are coming to Washington ports and they are behemoths. Stand one upright and it would be taller than the Empire State Building.

A decade ago, the world’s largest container ship sailing into the ports of Seattle and Tacoma carried 9,600 20-foot containers – enough to hold 1.3 million color TVs or 50 million cell phones. Today’s ships carry nearly 20,000 con...