The 14 containers form two, first-of-their-kind straddle carrier portals that streamline the process of scanning containers for radiation by 18 to 24 hours, said Mike Reilly, director of intermodal business development for The Northwest Seaport Alliance.

The portals were commissioned in October 2018, following a year of testing and a decade of work.

“Through this outstanding unity of effort, we not only enhanced our national security by deploying an effective (radiation/nuclear) scanning solution, we also vastly improved seaport operations,” said Allison Stout, the project manager from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

After the 9/11 attacks, federal laws were changed to require ports to scan every imported container under the Security and Accountability For Every (SAFE) Port Act of 2006.

The cost of national security was efficiency. At Pierce County Terminal, operated by Everport Terminal Services, containers are whisked around with 40-foot-tall straddle carriers, but scanning procedures added as much as an extra day to move cargo from ships to trains.

Freight sat until operations ended for the day, then U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers scanned each container. The 10-foot-tall boxes couldn’t be stacked, and room had to be left for the CBP’s mobile scanning trucks to maneuver.

“Before, we were utilizing only 17 percent of the Pierce County Terminal container yard. Now, we’ve increased the yard density to 83 percent,” said Reilly.

Thanks to the new scanning method, containers can now be stacked three high and double-handling is eliminated. Straddle carriers pick up a container and pass through the scanning portal on the way to the train. Each portal consists of two three-container stacks with a seventh container in between to help straddle carrier drivers align themselves and their cargo.

The new scanning system could triple rail traffic at the terminal, Reilly said. “To think that the terminal was operating with all of those inefficiencies for years, it creates a great opportunity to be aggressive and go after new business,” Reilly said. “If we were operating with handcuffs before, now the handcuffs are off.”

Making the portals a reality required the work of CBP and the Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office (formerly the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office), the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest and the Savannah River National Laboratory and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Stakeholders secured more than $20 million in federal funding for the project.

One of the biggest challenges was developing equipment that could scan through the thick metal legs of the straddle carriers, Reilly said.

Such a large collaboration felt, at times, “like herding cats,” Reilly said, but he never doubted the portals would become a reality. “Believe me, many, many conversations took place to get us across the finish line.”

Getting to the starting line, on the other hand, involved a big assist from U.S. Sen. Patty Murray. The senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee was instrumental in securing the Port of Tacoma as a test site for the portals.

“After working for more than a decade to strengthen port security in Washington state and around the country, I am thrilled that our shared vision to improve the maritime cargo system at the Port of Tacoma has finally become a reality,” Murray said. “Washingtonians on both sides of the Cascades understand how critical our ports are to our region’s economic competitiveness, and as a voice for our state in Congress I’ve been proud of our bipartisan success to pass legislation and secure federal investments over the years that helped pave the way for these important maritime security upgrades.

“This new, innovative approach to maritime security will help defend against paralyzing threats to our country and support continued economic growth by the Port of Tacoma and The Northwest Seaport Alliance that will help families and communities in Puget Sound and across our state thrive.”

Watching the portals in action on a cloudy November morning, Reilly smiled as straddle carriers passed through, making easy work of a once inefficient process. The results are worth the years of work, he said. “It was a labor of love.”