BY STAS MARGARONIS,
Three Northern California ports – Redwood City, Richmond and San Francisco – reported that they are making headway in 2025 despite a more challenging trade and cargo picture.
The Port of Redwood City has improved revenues despite a decline in tonnage, San Francisco has reported a resurgence in cruise ship volumes following downturns during the Pandemic and the Port of Richmond has invested in infrastructure improvements and upgrades that have resulted in a 50% reduction in calls for police assistance at the Port area.
The Port briefings were made to the Propeller Club of Northern California on September 11th.
PORT OF REDWOOD CITY
Kristine Zortman, Executive Director, Port of Redwood City said the Port had experienced a decline in tonnage but was able to increase revenue despite the decline: “We have seen a 20% drop in our cargo this year, and we average around 2 million metric tons annually. So, a 20% drop is significant.”
She explained that the decline is “is not directly related to the tariffs but is a combination of things and … also indicative of what is going on in the construction market as well as the bank market. So, we have seen that reduction. However, we have been able to increase our revenue annually every year. And we are at a record-breaking annual revenue again this year of a little short of $10.5 million. And that is because we have really started to streamline our real estate assets, bringing them up to market on the value because they had been sitting there … stagnant for so long and bringing in other new enterprises into redeveloping some of our real estate assets.”
Zortman said that “the Port serves a specific need for the region in the building out of the Southern San Francisco Bay (i.e. Silicon Valley). “
Zortman said the Port is pursuing new investments in nature-based solutions to support infrastructure resiliency.
She added that the Port serves as a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) coordination center … “because when there is the next significant earthquake, we are able to deploy first responders and resources via the water … And that was granted to us back in 2017 by FEMA. So, when we think about our strategic value to the community, it is not only building out as the cargo and the economic engine that we are bringing in. It is also maintaining our designation as a deep-water port to be able to serve the community during any kind of catastrophic event.”
PORT OF RICHMOND
Charles Gerard, Executive Director Port of Richmond, reported on a number of Port project completions and others that are under way. These were as follows:
Projects Completed
- Safety and Security
- Traffic calming and speed reduction
- Fire Hydrant & System Overhaul (AWC)
- CPTED – Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design
- Flock Camera Deployment
- Lease Renewals and Expansion
- Facilities Engineering Assessment
Projects Underway
- Facilities Engineering Assessment
- Deployment of CARB-Approved Emissions Control System
- Dredging: Permitting and Dredging Berths 7/8 & Terminal 2
- Historical buildings to market – Warehouse, Cafeteria
A big priority for the Port is safety and security where there has been a 50% reduction in incidents reported to the Richmond Police Department:” We worked through a crime prevention through environmental design project with the Richmond Police Department. That was very helpful. We deployed a flock camera solution, which Richmond PD uses throughout the city. It is now running and operating … just measuring the first half of 2024 versus the first half of 2025, we have seen more than a 50% reduction in dispatches to RPD within the Port area.”
He explained that “since I came on, there was a couple priorities that we established. One was safety and security for the Port. And so, several of our projects over the last year have been focused on engineering civil works related to traffic, speed reduction… So, a result of that crime prevention effort, we get quarterly reports on dispatch within the Port area and a map of where the dispatch calls came in. I don’t want to characterize the Port as having … tremendous problems with illegal activities, but certainly for our tenants we wanted to ensure security as we work to build and grow that business that many of those tenants are expanding and extending their stay at the Port of Richmond.”
PORT OF SAN FRANCISO
Elaine Forbes, Executive Director, Port of San Francisco has announced she is retiring.
So, Andre Coleman, Maritime Director, Port of San Francisco told the Propeller Club audience that San Francisco continues to be a destination city for tourists: “This is something that we have started to put a lot more focus into, especially coming off the Pandemic. The cruise ship business was a catalyst to recovery for us and assisting in returning to our normal business. We have had some of our highest passenger counts over the last few years. Our primary cruise terminal is a Pier 27 facility. It is our only electrified berth meeting California Air Resources Board (CARB) standards that require cruise ships plug into the electrical grid for a hundred percent of the time while at berth.”
The result is that in the current fiscal year “368,000 passengers transited through our cruise facilities. This is our second highest year on record. So, we are very excited about that. We would like to just recognize the partnership with our cruise terminal operator, Metro and the ILWU, workforce.”
Coleman said the Port of San Francisco’s strategic plan includes the following goals:
- Cargo: Maximize cargo opportunities at the deep-water terminals.
- Cruise: Evaluate facilities to support the Port’s expanding cruise business.
- Pier 68 Shipyard: Identify maritime opportunities for revitalizing select parcels at the shipyard.
- Pier 80-96 and Backlands: Pursue federal and state grants to investigate site improvements to increase leasing ability by 2025.
- Commercial Fishing Industry: Preserve and enhance commercial fishing at Fisherman’s Wharf and Hyde Street Harbor.
- Water Transportation: Expand the Port’s water transit system and promotion of water transit.
CAL POLY MARITIME ACADEMY
Kate McGowan, President, Propeller Club, Cal Poly Solano said that the former California Maritime Academy at Vallejo, California has been merged into California Polytechnic at San Luis Obispo. California Polytechnic is better known as Cal Poly. The Vallejo campus is now known as Cal Poly Solano. This is the first year of the merger and many former Cal Maritime grads (and students) have been very interested in the result. Bosworth said there have been a number of changes including a rise in enrollment from new students attending the Vallejo campus:
“We have way more accessibility to new resources on campus given a lot more students. So, the Cal Maritime Propeller Club has doubled, if not tripled with just club involvement in people who are interested, which is wonderful.”
The result is a wave of new students have arrived on campus: “We’ve had just a lot more diverse students come to our school and we have seen a big growth of people who are seeing the maritime industry that before they had never heard of. So, it has been great for exposure. So, it’s been really exciting times. There is definitely a lot of transitions that we are going through and there is like probably way more questions than answers.”