Despite substantial progress in solving startup problems, productivity is still falling short of goals at a Port of Tacoma terminal where a shipping line consortium moved from Seattle five months ago.

Alec Coleman, Washington United Terminals vice president, told Tacoma port commissioners Thursday that the surge of new business the that Grand Alliance shipping consortium brought to the Tacoma terminal is still not moving as swiftly and efficiently through the terminal as the WUT had projected.

Washington United Terminals leases the container terminal on Tacoma’s Blair Waterway from the Port of Tacoma.

“We still have a long way to go …

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A large vehicle-carrying ship this week brought a vintage vehicle to Tacoma on its way to an Everett museum.

The Wallenius Lines ship Elektra, which ordinarily carries new vehicles, brought a
a fully-restored Sherman tank rolled onto Terminal 7.

Sherman tank arrives in Tacoma

The tank, a mainstay of Allied forces during the Second World War, was transported to the Flying Heritage Collection at Everett’s Paine Field. The collection consists mostly of vintage World War II fighter aircraft restored to flying condition at the expense of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. But the museum

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Can’t help but read this news release with a slightly curled lip.

“Northwestern Mutual today announced plans for a new downtown Milwaukee office tower expected to preserve 1,100 current jobs in the city while creating capacity for as many as 1,700 new jobs.”

Northwestern Mutual is the parent company of Russell Investments, the company born 77 years ago in Tacoma that Northwestern Mutual moved to Seattle a few years ago after it got a screaming deal on an empty high-rise left from the spectacular failure of Washington Mutual.

Local leaders pitched hard to the Milwaukee company to build a signature new …

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Iceland’s international airline, Icelandair, has told Boeing it intends to order 12 of the company’s new 737 Max airliners.

The airline, whose hub is in Reykjavik, said it intends to acquire eight 737 Max 8s and four 737 Max 9s. The Max 8s will be configured with 153 seats. The Max 9s will hold 172 passengers in Icelandair’s seating configuration.

Icelandair’s fleet now consists of Boeing 757s

At list prices, those 12 aircraft are valued at $1.2 billion. The airline said it wants purchase rights for an additional 12 of the planes.

Final details

…

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South Sound gas prices, which have enjoyed a six-week fall, appear to have stabilized around $3.40 a gallon.

The News Tribune’s Gas Deal Finder reports average prices for unleaded regular in the Tacoma area were $3.401 a gallon in mid-afternoon today. That’s 1.2 cents more than the average a week ago.

The Tacoma-area price is just above the national average of $3.387 a gallon.

Typically gas prices hit their yearly low just before Christmas each year and then gradually rise until Memorial Day when they decline slightly and stabilize for the summer before heading downward in September.

This year …

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Passenger traffic on SeaTac’s Alaska Airlines increased by 9.4 percent in November according to a new report from the airline.

The increase in passenger revenue miles (one paying passenger flown one mile) matched Alaska’s 9.4 percent increase in capacity last month over November 2011.

That translated to 86.4 percent of the airline’s seats being filled last month. That’s the same percentage as November a year ago.

Meanwhile, Alaska’s on-time arrival percentage improved from 84.8 percent a year ago to 87.3 percent in November this year.

At Alaska’s sister regional airline, Horizon Air, passenger traffic improved by 8.1 percent last month …

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China beckons – perhaps for your business. Here’s a chance to find out.

The World Trade Center Tacoma will host a roundtable discussion and matchmaking session featuring 13 Chinese CEOs and business owners next Wednesday, Dec. 12, at the Wells Fargo Plaza, 1201 Pacific Ave., in conference room C-6.

Events coordinator Miriam Anderson reports that the Chinese business owners ate “looking to invest money in Washington.”

Anderson said the delegates are interested in a variety of industries including wine, real estate, education, oil and gas, American tea products, information technology and seafood.

The cost to attend the event – which …

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Chevy’s Fresh Mex in Tacoma will close its doors Dec. 23.

Store management met with the staff this weekend to inform them of the closing, a manager said this morning. The restaurant employs about 35 people.

The Tacoma Chevy’s is just off 38th Street, in Lincoln Plaza near the Tacoma Mall. It’s the only Chevy’s in the state.

It opened in 1998 and is a franchise operation of California-based Real Mex Restaurants, which has 34 Chevy’s franchises and 68 company owned stores in 15 states. Real Mex emerged from bankruptcy reorganization earlier this year.

I’m reaching out to the owner …

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