EVERETT — The Port of Everett’s director and its board chairman are planning a business trip to Japan in April to drum up more shipping business.
Port director John Mohr said he and Commissioner Mark Wolken will meet with shippers from April 15 to 25.
The port sees regular business from Japan and some other Asian countries because of regular shipment of jet parts heading for the Boeing Co.’s Everett plant. Manufacturers in Japan ship parts for the 767 and the 777 lines.
“We want to make sure that we’re meeting our customers’ expectations both on the shipping end and the receiving end,” Mohr said.
Wolken said he and Mohr plan to visit the port’s aerospace customers and to try “to expand the overall cargo that comes with that.”
The port should learn more during the trip about how Boeing’s $30 billion contract to build a new refueling tanker for Boeing will translate into additional shipments of 767 parts from Japan. The tanker would be built on the airframe for a 767, which uses fuselage panels manufactured in Japan. “Hopefully, we’ll get a better understanding on when the 767 deliveries are going to increase,” Mohr said.
He said the visit, which should cost the port about $15,000, will also include meetings with government officials in Hiroshima to promote additional cargo shipments to Everett. Several years ago, the governor of Hiroshima visited Everett to promote economic ties between the two cities.
Asked about why he was going to Asia rather than sending someone else, Mohr said “there’s an expectation of protocol for these meetings.”
“I haven’t been to Asia for quite a while (four years) and there’s an expectation that they’re going to see me and that we can work out things together,” he said.
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