Port Angeles Grant Boosts Port Efficiency

In Washington state, the Port of Port Angeles has been awarded an $8.6 million federal grant from the Dept. of Transportation Maritime Administration’s Port Infrastructure Development Program. The grant will provide key funding to assist in the repair and improvements to Port Angeles’ industrial waterfront at its Intermodal Handling and Transfer Facility (IHTF). The facility has become vital to the freight infrastructure on the Olympic Peninsula, directly supporting domestic manufacturing, timber industry jobs and economic development. The project is scheduled for completion the second half of 2026.

According to port officials, the IHTF is key to the region’s forest products industry as the only industrial facility with a water interface on the North Olympic Peninsula that can process whole logs coming from Canada and Alaska. It also moves logs from the Peninsula to manufacturers across the Pacific Northwest using barges.

Much of the grant will be used to complete structural repairs and improvements to an existing 112-year-old dock as well as pavement improvements to increase the surface elevation and load capacity for about 10 acres of an existing 30-acre cargo yard. The project will also refurbish the coffer dam, a sheet pile structure that allows access for a barge alongside the land to load wood onto it. The project will improve efficiency, expand opportunities for other uses and improve the water quality of stormwater runoff at the facility. Officials say utilizing waterborne transportation helps reduce transportation costs and also removes trucks off Highway 101, reducing CO2 emissions and improving safety.