Eagle Marine Services plans to lay off 94 of its employees
within Washington State by the end of July, according to a notice the company
has filed with the state Employment Security Department.
Eagle Marine, a subsidiary of American President Lines (APL)
operates two West Coast terminals, one at the Port of Los Angeles and another
at Port of Seattle. The Seattle terminal, which handles about 350,000 lifts
annually, has the capacity for nearly 600,000 TEUs, according to Eagle Marine.
It also contains a 190-acre container yard and 30 acres of on-dock rail.
Thus far, neither Eagle Marine nor APL has publicly
commented on the reason for the layoffs, but on May 16, the port and Eagle
Marine announced a plan to relocate Eagle Marine’s cargo and break bulk
activities to another terminal so that the company’s current home at Terminal 5
can be modernized in order to handle larger vessels.
Under the agreement’s terms, which haven’t yet been approved
by the Port Commission but may be considered at its June 24 meeting, Eagle
Marine would shift operations this summer to Terminal 18, which already houses
SSA Terminals. The port, however, has said that the proposal would allow Eagle
Marine to preserve both container volume and ship calls.