October 21, 2016
CapitalPress.com
9
Washington
Maritime group: Wash. ports need money, not red tape
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
A report commissioned
by the Washington Maritime
Federation makes a plea for
more public money and less
hostility toward port projects
related to coal and oil.
The study, led by former
U.S. maritime administrator
Dave Matsuda, outlines broad
policy goals, but largely does
not offer detailed proposals.
The report does assert
that Washington ports are in
danger of losing business,
particularly to the ports of
Vancouver and Prince Rupert
in British Columbia, and the
ports of Long Beach and Los
Angeles in Southern Califor-
nia.
The state’s two largest
ports, Seattle and Tacoma,
already have seen their share
of North America’s container
market decline to 10 percent
from 15 percent since the turn
of the century, according to
Don Wilson/Port of Seattle
The container ship Benjamin Franklin calls at Terminal 18 of the Port
of Seattle. A new report found that Washington state ports need more
inancial support from the state and less regulatory red tape.
the report.
Projects that could create
jobs face years of government
review and opposition based
on climate change concerns,
threatening to cause some
companies to look elsewhere
to build, the report warns.
“There are some pretty
demanding challenges facing
Washington,” Matsuda said in
a conference call with report-
ers.
The federation is an asso-
ciation of shipping, economic
development and business or-
ganizations.
Five of the top 10 products
exported from Washington are
agricultural goods: soybeans,
wheat, corn, apples and pro-
cessed potatoes, according to
the report.
One speciic idea in the
paper, allowing state gasoline
taxes to be spent on port proj-
ects, would require amending
the state constitution.
“We heard that might be a
politically tough battle,” Mat-
suda said.
Other recommendations in
the report include:
• State funding set aside
solely for ports. The report
did not propose a revenue
source, though it did hold up
Florida as a model. The Sun-
shine State has a law guar-
anteeing at least $25 million
will be spent annually on port
projects. “If it’s a priority, you
have to make room for it in
the budget,” Matsuda said.
• Tax incentives to encour-
age private investment. In
the conference call, Matsuda
suggested looking at capping
taxes on port properties.
• Establish a committee to
investigate delays in issuing
permits and recommend ways
to speed up decisions. The re-
port highlighted that a propos-
al to build a coal export ter-
minal on the Columbia River
at Longview has been under
review since Feb. 22, 2012.
“Somebody has to be empow-
ered to collect data and make
recommendations to make
changes to how decisions are
made,” Matsuda said.
The report noted that the
Washington Department of
Ecology has estimated the
coal terminal’s effect on
greenhouse gas emissions
worldwide, not just in Wash-
ington. Ecology has called
on the company, Millennium
Bulk Terminals, to slash the
projected carbon output by
half.
“It is disconcerting that
only port infrastructure has
been singled out for such
treatment,” the report states.
“This unprecedented decision
has now set a practice that has
the potential to seriously hurt
Washington’s competitive-
ness.”
The report also cited two
high-proile disputes in Seat-
tle as examples of shaky sup-
port for ports.
City oficials last year
objected to Foss Maritime
leasing space at the Port of
Seattle to Royal Dutch Shell.
Concerned about climate
change, Mayor Ed Murray
said it was “time to turn the
page on things like coal trains,
oil trains and oil drilling
rigs.” The oil company later
dropped plans to drill offshore
in Alaska and use Seattle as a
base for storing and maintain-
ing equipment.
This year, the city council
by one vote defeated a pro-
posal to build a sports arena in
a port industrial district. The
port and International Long-
shore and Warehouse Union
opposed the arena.
State ag directors laud WSDA’s
public outreach on gypsy moths
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Mike Hajny is shown at the Wesco International shipping yard, Ellensburg, Wash., in January 2015.
He’s now started his own hay export company after 19 years of working for others.
Ellensburg gains another hay exporter
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
ELLENSBURG, Wash.
— It’s been a tough couple of
years for hay exporters, not
exactly the climate for indus-
try startups.
That probably puts Mike
Hajny in a class by himself, or
close to it.
“I’ve always liked a chal-
lenge,” Hajny said in explain-
ing his start of Hajny Trading
LLC, the eighth and newest
of Ellensburg’s hay exporters.
He said he knows of no one
else getting into the business
right now.
Hajny — pronounced
Hay-Knee — 45, left the vice
presidency of Wesco Inter-
national, another Ellensburg
hay exporter, in May to start
his own company. Neither he
nor Don Schilling, president
of Wesco, would comment on
why that happened.
But Schilling said it costs
so much to get started and the
market is so competitive “that
it’s hard to ind examples of
guys getting into it and sur-
viving in the past 10 years.”
“It’s capital intensive and
more and more market is
looking for bigger players and
more stability,” he said.
Hajny said he agrees with
that assessment but is banking
on his experience and con-
nections. He said he has very
little overhead and isn’t stuck
with large inventories accu-
mulated at higher prices that
larger companies may have.
Hajny was vice president
of Wesco for seven years and
was operations manager of
Calaway Trading Inc., anoth-
er Ellensburg hay exporter,
for 12 years before that.
The West Coast port slow-
down in 2014 and 2015 crip-
pled hay exporters, causing
them to lose overseas cus-
tomers that they haven’t fully
regained. By December 2015,
some exporters were cutting
employee hours.
Today, large inventories
of hay and low milk prices
are keeping prices down and
domestic and export sales
sluggish. Some producers say
the bottom has been reached
while others say prices may
still go lower.
Hajny and Schilling both
say things could get tougher.
Hajny said the last two years
have been the toughest in the
industry’s history.
Supreme alfalfa has been
at $185 per ton through the
summer, according to the
USDA, and feeder hay has
been $130.
In 2014 supreme and pre-
mium alfalfa was in the upper
$200s and reached $300 and
$370 per ton in California,
driven by a hay shortage be-
fore the port slowdown. Feed-
er hay was $220 to $240.
Hajny has contracted with
Stone Wings II Import Export
Inc. in Ellensburg to store and
press his hay. He said he has
exported about 25,000 tons of
hay since May and has sold
10,000 to 15,000 tons domes-
tically.
The largest West Coast
exporters sold in the 700,000-
ton range prior to 2014
while many handled around
100,000 tons apiece. Total
hay exports from West Coast
ports reached 4.5 million tons
in 2013 before falling to just
under 4 million in 2014 and
rebounding to 4.2 million in
2015, according to University
of California Cooperative Ex-
tension.
“My philosophy has al-
ways been to get in at the
bottom and work up,” Hajny
said.
He’s exporting mainly
to Japan, as are Wesco and
others. He also breeds and
sells registered Black Angus
bulls and replacement heifers
through Hajny Land & Live-
stock.
Washington State Depart-
ment of Agriculture spokesman
Hector Castro has received
national recognition for spear-
heading a campaign this year
to assure the public that spray-
ing pesticides over urban areas
would eradicate gypsy moths
while not exposing the public
to dangerous chemicals.
The campaign disarmed
objections and raised public
support for WSDA’s aggressive
stance against gypsy moths,
according to the National Asso-
ciation of State Departments of
Agriculture.
Castro received the Honor
Award for Communications on
Saturday at the
organization’s
annual meeting
in Lincoln, Neb.
WSDA last
spring sprayed
more
than
Hector
10,500
acres
at
Castro
seven sites, in-
cluding Seattle’s
densely populated Capitol Hill
neighborhood.
In 2000 and 2006, aerial
spraying for gypsy moths in
Seattle provoked street protests
and court challenges.
This year, WSDA mailed
postcards to more than 38,000
addresses, hosted open houses
and used social media to publi-
cize its reasons to spray and in-
form the public about the type
of pesticide that would be used.
WSDA oficials, including
Castro, were on the ground
during early-morning spray-
ings to answer questions from
the media and public.
The Oregon Department of
Agriculture conducted a simi-
lar campaign in Portland. Both
states reported hearing only
slight opposition to the spray-
ing.
Washington and Oregon
sprayed gypsy moth caterpil-
lars with bacillus thuringiensis
kurstaki, a naturally occurring
bacteria used in organic agri-
culture. WSDA responded on
social media to internet sites
that described the chemical
as a “GMO poison” or “GMO
bacterial weapon.”
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