When consumers around the world enjoy wild Alaskan halibut or sockeye salmon, the fish likely journeyed through one of the ports of The Northwest Seaport Alliance.

Seafood is one of the top export commodities shipped out of the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, with a total value in 2016 of $637.9 million.

The products will make a seafood lovers mouth water: sockeye, pink, king, silver and chum salmon; halibut; Pacific cod, lingcod; rockfish, pollock, and sablefish (black cod); crab, shrimp, clams, oysters and mussels.

But this is no fish story. The facts speak for themselves.

Puget Sound’s fourth-largest trading partner – in the U.S. or abroad – is Alaska at approximately $5.4 billion annually. With its pristine waters and 34,000 miles of shoreline, Alaska has the most prolific fishing industry in the United States and accounts for more than 60 percent of all U.S. wild-caught seafood.

“Each year Alaska seafood companies ship more than 1 billion pounds of Alaska seafood products through Pacific Northwest ports,” said Jeremy Woodrow, communications director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. “The Alaska seafood industry considers the NWSA a valuable partner in the process of distributing Alaska’s high-quality seafood across the globe.”

Container vessels travel between Alaska and Puget Sound.

Each week, both TOTE Maritime Alaska and Matson ships make two voyages between Tacoma and Alaska harbors and back, a trip that takes four days each way. Seafood is moved in refrigerated containers, often referred to as reefers. A significant amount of waterborne cargo also moves by conventional barge on Alaska Marine Lines through Seattle. Southeast Alaska is supplied almost entirely by barge; southbound barges largely transport seafood back.

NWSA is the second-largest gateway for seafood exports in North America. The Pacific Northwest commands a 30 percent market share of total seafood exports from the U.S. Frozen fish is the leading commodity segment by TEU volume.

In 2016, shipping lines calling at NWSA terminals exported 14,190 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) of seafood. The top destinations were China, Japan, Ukraine, South Korea, Spain and Germany, in that order. Frozen fish accounts for most of this volume, according to Georgette Reidburn, business representative with the NWSA.

“The majority of the inbound volumes of seafood are from Alaska. Cargo is then held in cold storage facilities until further shipments are determined,” Reidburn said. “Often times, seafood is exported to Asia for processing and then can be imported back in its finished state.” This includes product that has been filleted, packaged, breaded, canned or smoked.

A number of the top seafood shippers in the U.S. are located in Seattle because of its proximity to Alaska and Asia, access to the trans-Pacific trade lane and the 2 million-plus square feet of cold storage capacity in the area.

Ocean Beauty Seafoods, one of the largest producers of salmon in the United States, has a distribution location in Seattle. From there, both fresh and frozen seafood can be delivered to food service and retail businesses.

“Operational efficiency at the NWSA harbors is important to the local supply chain,” said Jan Koslosky, vice president of supply chain management for Ocean Beauty Seafoods. “Enhancements, such as the extended hours program at the terminals, is a huge benefit.”

The peak season for salmon fishing – and therefore the busiest time for NWSA seafood shippers – is May through September. Five major salmon species are caught, beginning with king in May. Sockeyes, pink, silvers and chum run strong in July and August. The peak period for exports continues into October.