Port of Redwood City eyes recovery amid pandemic

Mainly dealing in the shipping and receiving of construction materials, the port saw a decrease in cargo tonnage during 2020 of around 20% or 995,000 metric tons, Zortman said. She credited the decrease largely to stalls in construction resulting from the statewide shelter-in-place order.

Comparatively, more than 1.24 million metric tons traveled through the port during the first half of Fiscal Year 2019-20, spanning July through December. The trend put the port on track to completing its third record-breaking year for cargo tonnage, had the pandemic not occurred.

The dip in tonnage represents a 6% revenue decrease of nearly $300,000 but Zortman noted operations are performing better than anticipated when the pandemic first struck. Port tenants are reportedly operating at up to 90% compared to prepandemic business, she said.

Cautiously optimistic, Zortman still anticipates the port may end this fiscal year slightly under in terms of tonnage given the pandemic’s wide and varying effect on markets.

“The good thing for our port is that we were able to weather this a little better than some of the more tourism ports because people were still building,” said Zortman, adding that scrap metal exports have also performed well during the pandemic.

After accounting for roughly $3.28 million in expenses, the port accrued a net income of $1.18 million. Officials had budgeted for just more than $1 million of income by December 2020 after reportedly earning more than $1.6 million by the prior December.

Serving as an entryway to Silicon Valley for trade partners including Australia, Canada, Mexico, Asia and South America, port activity contributes around $542,000 in revenue to the city of Redwood City.

While monitoring the recovery, Zortman said port leadership is eyeing additional public uses for the area. For the first time at the port it hosted family-friendly and COVID-safe drive-in movies.

Additionally, fresh fish sales are now being offered after the Port of San Francisco experienced some closures, said Zortman. Officials are also looking at developing other community amenities that would complement the new use such as barbecue areas and shaded structures.

In January, the Redwood City Council also unanimously approved a feasibility study for the development of a ferry system. Operated by the Water Emergency Transportation Authority, the station would connect Peninsula residents with existing San Francisco and Oakland stations.

“One of the unintended benefits of the pandemic is it really allowed us to look at new activations,” said Zortman. “We’re looking at getting new resources and community benefits that will get the public interested in what’s going on at the port.”

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

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