Port of Redwood City’s Zortman says imports are down but construction demand remains strong

The Port of Redwood City, California which imports sand and aggregates for the Silicon Valley construction industry, reports that tonnages for 2020 are down compared to 2019, but the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions on construction by the State of California could alleviate the downturn.

Kristine Zortman, executive director, Port of Redwood City told AJOT:

“By comparison, we are about 15-20% lower than the same period last year, however as the cargo is still coming into the Port we will see if those numbers improve now that all construction is allowed in the State. Some construction was halted during the stay-at-home orders but now that the State has lifted restrictions we expect an uptick.”

Importing Sand and Aggregates

In April 2020, the Port reported 5 vessel arrivals generating a monthly tonnage total of 139,095. The cumulative fiscal year tonnage for 2020 is 1,845,153 metric tons.

The prime imports are sand and aggregates from Canada that are used by batch plants and ready mix to produce concrete for construction.

Zortman says major projects like the Facebook expansion and other Silicon Valley expansions have been major consumers of concrete but these projects, “may now be subject to change and we don’t know what those changes are.”

She said “There is a latent impact that we expect to see in the next couple of months.”

However, “the good news is that public infrastructure projects have continued”

She cited:

• The California Department of Transportation freeway “express lane project continues.”
  
• Local cities’ “contacts and infrastructure projects are continuing.”
  
• The Silicon Valley Water District continues “its operations.”
  

The impact to the Port is that “we are running two budgets for the fiscal year. The first budget is at current levels while the second one projects a 30% reduction.”

Proposed Ferry Service Linking Redwood City To San Francisco and East San Francisco Bay

The proposed ferry service linking the Port to San Francisco remains on track: “the feasibility study has shown good numbers.”

Zortman said Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) which runs ferry services in the San Francisco Bay plans “a commuter service between San Francisco, Redwood City and the East (San Francisco) Bay.”

An existing private company that already provides local bus service will provide service from the Port of Redwood City ferry terminal to Silicon Valley employers: “the ridership for the new ferry service is benefitting from expansions at Facebook, Oracle, Google and Stanford University.”

The Port is coordinating an outreach meeting next week with the recreational boat community to discuss the impact of the ferry on recreational boating.

Eden Landing Ecological Reserve Restoration

In part to protect against sea level rise and storm surges, the Port of Redwood City supports the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, Phase 2: “The Port will provide dredge material from its ship channel dredging to build up the Eden Landing Ecological Reserve which is located across the Bay from Redwood City in Alameda County: “Phase 2 of this project “anticipates it takes 20 years of dredge materials from the Port of Redwood City, the Port of Oakland and other ship channel dredging. The Port is in partnership on this project with the California Coastal Conservancy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers among others and others…Unfortunately, due to the current economic down turn, the plan to begin the project in fiscal year 2021 may be delayed by 1-2 years.”