Seaport Partnerships for Prosperity

No seaport prospers in a vacuum. Smaller seaports naturally get it. Their presence in small communities is felt in an outsized way. Their resources may be slim, but their interconnectedness with the community is a 24/7 thing, with port administrators running into business CEOs at the gas station, longshore workers sitting alongside environmentalists at Little League, and ship pilots competing with recreational fishermen at a rib cook-off.

In smaller communities, these daily interactions can be greatly beneficial; they can generate a level of knowledge and understanding that allows for mutual respect, and helps ports prioritize goals and actions that partner with and serve the people.

Mike Bomar is chief economic strategy officer at Port of Vancouver USA. He said that bringing economic benefit to the community, a cornerstone goal of most ports, starts with partnerships to gain understanding.

“Economic benefit means something different in every community, and it’s critical to gain an understanding of what the shared community vision is (if there is one) and to find ways to leverage each other’s strengths and resources in achieving that vision,” said Bomar. He added, for most communities, this requires engagement with public, private, educational, and nonprofit partners “to truly paint the picture of community success and to understand what each group brings to the table.”

Orchestrated Understanding

For larger ports or those located in mega cities, it takes a lot of effort to identify and understand stakeholders, constituencies, and audiences.

Fortunately, larger ports tend to have more resources and can create more formal avenues to tap into the needs, desires and limitations of hundreds of tenants, multiple lines of business, and millions of people in the surrounding metro area.

Partnering for Innovation

The Port of Seattle has a host of partnerships at many levels, some informal and some formalized, like its Memorandum of Understanding with Washington Maritime Blue. In late 2024, the two organizations renewed their long-standing collaboration on maritime innovation and environmental stewardship. Together, they support the development and growth of innovative new maritime businesses, the advancement of maritime businesses in the global marketplace, and Washington’s leadership in maritime innovation and sustainability. They are championing maritime innovations with an established framework for cooperation in decarbonization, ocean renewable energy, sustainable fishing, and marine conservation.

“Continuing the collaboration between the Port and Maritime Blue is essential to our work to build a sustainable port for the future,” said Port of Seattle Commission President Hamdi Mohamed. He noted that the “Maritime Innovation Center at Fishermen’s Terminal will make it the heart of Seattle’s maritime innovation economy, where emerging maritime companies can solve industry problems, find technical and financial support, and grow their ideas into reality.”

True partnerships that develop to address existing or pending challenges are decision-making tools, guiding partners through complex issues involving many stakeholders.

Converting Adversaries to Collaborators

While greater knowledge is always a good thing, it doesn’t always predicate good relationships.

Relationships between seaports and others can be complex and sometimes adversarial. Nevertheless, negotiating leases and permitting structures, or updating assets and automating processes, can all result in win-win scenarios, if those involved see themselves as partners and collaborators.

“One of the biggest benefits of real partnerships is trust. Information moves at an insane pace these days and the lines between accurate news and misinformation are blurry,” said Bomar. He added, “Some type of bad news or controversy is bound to find its way to your organization, and when it does, it’s great to have public opinion leaders, with the ability to amplify information sharing, who know your executive well enough to pick up the phone and get the facts first-hand.”

Who to Engage?

Seaports partner with a wide variety of communities and organizations to reach shared objectives. While external partners will be unique to each port, they inevitably include stakeholders from the greater trade and transportation community, government and tenants. Facilitating the mobility of goods and passengers is a top seaport goal.

They may also include partners to tackle shared challenges, such as those related to environmental improvement, workforce development, or land-use development. Partnerships like these can introduce a level of new knowledge that can help a port set a more sustainable and equitable stage for itself and others.

Increasingly, ports partner with underserved or other specifically defined communities or populations, helping seaports build productive relationships and understand the particular needs of external parties over the long term. Building community support for seaports involves educational outreach at many levels. If done well, over time, port decision making will improve, as will quality of life in the surrounding regions.

How to Engage?

Fortunately, many seaports have hit upon the secret to successfully engaging external parties in a way that balances the needs and goals of ports and stakeholders. In fact, port master plans are now ubiquitous and can provide the high-level guidance necessary to partner successfully.

Also, some ports are mandated to work with specified groups. Tax-supported seaports, in particular, may be required to engage with communities and commit to transparency on topics like economic benefits, compliance with regulations, and safety and security.

Alissa Shay is deputy director of the Port of Grays Harbor. She said external engagement and partnerships aren’t arbitrary in Washington state. Ports in the state are specifically charged with engaging in economic development and having ongoing and lasting relationships with both their private partners and their public partners.

“At the Port of Grays Harbor, our success is based on our public and private partnerships. We utilize our public assets and infrastructure to attract and leverage private investment in our facilities for long-term economic growth. Our private partners are committed to our community because they are invested in its success,” said Shay.

Bomar noted that the first step to finding and engaging partners is easy. “Show up. Show up to places and events where community leaders gather for information and for good causes. If you have a team of executive leaders, divide and conquer to make sure your port is visible in as many relevant spaces as needed to accomplish the mission,” he said.

Of course, attending an event is vastly different from showing up with sincere curiosity. Bomar advised, “Try to ask as many questions as you can, and do more listening than talking.”

When a port has a culture of engaging the community, the community will feel understood and actually be understood. That will help guide any decisions impacting the community.

In the past, ports regularly clashed with neighbors over the impacts of their projects and operations. Going forward, change has to be well-intentioned, beneficial for a broad swath of the community, and thoughtful of sensitive communities or ones that suffered historically. Not everyone will always be happy or accommodated, but there is often room in a port initiative for more care and concern. The seaport’s bottom line (and legal costs) may well benefit.

Educational Partnerships

At Grays Harbor, a lot of care and concern go into diverse partnerships in workforce training and education. “Our assets at the Satsop Business Park allow us to have an ongoing partnership with Grays Harbor College for two programs: the Commercial Forestry program and the Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) program,” said Shay.

The pipeline of students coming out of these programs is considered critical to port and customer success. The port is one of the few that manages forest land. They have partnered creatively to ensure the success of these programs. “We have also partnered with our local trade groups and Educational Services District 113 to bring together all school districts in the five-county region to create a “Try A Trade” day for high school students. Last year, over 1,100 students came to our Satsop Business Park for the day to get a hands-on look at what it might feel like to enter into one of the construction trades,” said Shay.

Similarly, the Port of Vancouver USA has developed robust partnerships with its K-12 system (including career and technical education programs), community colleges and its local university, Washington State University Vancouver. “Because these partners know their port at a deeper level, we receive high-quality interns, engage in discussion around curriculum to support the maritime industry, and raise the visibility of educational opportunities in our communities,” said Bomar. He noted that the port considers these partnerships to be part of their long-game approach, meaning that eventually such relationships help build the port’s and region’s economic base. Filling gaps in employment and reaching out fosters a sense of community ownership and pride that paves the way for future investment and economic development.

The No Silo Philosophy

Most of America’s seaports have had call to examine their reason and value and relationship with the world. A deep dive, philosophically, into the broad implications of a seaport’s nature and actions might be just what’s needed to emerge with the sort of enlightenment, revelation and self-cultivation that will propel a port forward and help them prioritize actions and goals. Partnerships help them deploy the right courses of action and attain goals. Ports cannot operate without successful partnerships.

In the words of Alissa Shay, “Nobody can operate in a silo. It takes an entire team to be successful.”

Successful partnerships leverage a partner’s strengths. They may take a great deal of work, but as the partnerships develop, understanding and capability builds, and collaborative forces lead to progress that lasts.