Bellingham longshore workers play key role in Columbia River jetty repair
Local 7 works on 5-year boulder project, focuses on attracting new work to port
ILWU Local 7 members at the Port of Bellingham, the northernmost port in Washington, have done five years of heavy lifting to support Columbia River ports along the state’s border with Oregon, more than 250 miles to the south. How? By loading thousands of massive boulders needed to repair the jetties that keep the Columbia navigable for commercial ships destined for Astoria, Longview, Kalama, Portland and Vancouver.
Built in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the Columbia River’s jetties sought to tame the treacherous bar where the Pacific Coast’s largest river meets with incoming tides. The site has been the site of more than 2,000 shipwrecks, earning it the nickname “Graveyard of the Pacific.”
The Columbia’s three jetties, totaling nine miles in length, are “regularly pounded by Pacific Ocean waves between 10 and 20 feet high, with winter storms bringing extreme waves in excess of 30 feet,” according to the Army Corps of Engineers. “Over the years, many areas of each jetty were severely damaged by these waves.”
Enter the members of ILWU Local 7, who for the past five years have been periodically loading locally sourced, kitchen-sized boulders onto barges bound for points along the Columbia to repair the jetties. Local 7’s Joe Schmidt said that “not any rock will do,” and that the rocks must weigh between 165-180 pounds per cubic foot. The average size of the boulders handled by Local 7 weigh 60,000 pounds each, are razor-sharp, and as with all break-bulk cargo, require attention and skill to handle safely.
“Depending on the shape, if the weight is toward you, it’s not so bad,” Schmidt said. “If it’s at the end of forks, and you hit a bump, the machine can come off the ground. You need to keep it straight; you don’t want it to turn, or it will articulate.”
Schmidt said the job employs crane drivers and loader operators to lift the boulders onto barges at the Bellingham Shipping Terminal. Each barge takes around 5,000 tons, and Schmidt estimates Local 7 has handled between 150,000 and 200,000 tons to reinforce the north and south jetties. They are awaiting news on whether additional rock will be sourced locally to load onto barges next year.
Working together on the port’s future
The jetty repair work has been a welcome addition to the port’s diverse cargoes, which also include forest products, steel, and more. Though the Port of Bellingham hasn’t regained the level of work lost twenty years ago when nearby mill and smelter work ended, Local 7 regularly meets with the port on efforts to attract work to the port. It is the closest U.S. port to the border of Canada, and has a dedicated truck corridor to I-5, and close proximity to rail.
“There’s been a concerted effort on part of Local 7 and the port staff and commissioners; we’ve really worked together to get this going again,” said Schmidt. “We meet with the port staff monthly for breakfast; we sit down and talk. We’ve been able to fix any issues before they get out of hand. The commission has stood behind us, and it’s nice to be on the same page.”