Astoria, Oregon · $75B proposed
Columbia River Deepwater Spur
A deepwater export terminal at the mouth of the Columbia, designed to ship Pacific Northwest agricultural output directly to Asia, with a stabilized 24-meter channel through the river bar.
Pros
- The Columbia is a real agricultural export artery — wheat, potatoes, and produce already move downriver in volume.
- Astoria sits at the river mouth, avoiding the upriver draft limits that constrain Portland.
- Agricultural exports are a stable, long-term cargo base unlike speculative container transshipment.
Cons
- The Columbia Bar is called the "Graveyard of the Pacific" — ~2,000 wrecks. It shifts constantly; the Corps spends ~$20M/year just maintaining 43 feet.
- "Permanent" 24-meter depth at a river mouth carrying the Pacific Northwest's sediment load is a physical impossibility — the river deposits faster than any dredge removes.
- Concrete retaining walls on the channel bed would be undermined by the same currents within years.
Feasibility: Very low at the proposed spec. The agricultural export logic is the most grounded cargo story on the West Coast list — but the bar is undefeated. Two centuries of engineers have tried to tame the Columbia's mouth; the river is still in charge. A modest bulk terminal at realistic depth is plausible; a 24-meter post-Panamax gateway is not.
Aerial mock-up: Massive zero-emission gantry platforms at the river mouth, linked immediately to rail lines carrying agricultural flows inland.
