Many Grays Harbor residents were bemused to see the rows and rows of gleaming automobiles fenced in at the Port of Grays Harbor through much of March.

The deal was a one-off, said the port’s Deputy Executive Director Leonard Barnes: the port provided a temporary space for the thousands of cars in response to logistics issues elsewhere on the West Coast and in Canada for the client company, Glovis. But that doesn’t rule out the possibility of future business, Barnes said in a phone interview.

“The door is open for further discussion. They know we’re available to handle more,” Barnes said. “They had great familiarity with the Port of Grays Harbor and our capability.”

March’s offload at the port was predicated on the Port of Grays Harbor having the available space and manpower to handle it while other ports were not able to at that time, Barnes said.

“We were strictly a place that had space. They had docks their vessels could come to,” Barnes said. “We had all of these things ready to go and that’s what led to all that business happening so quickly.”

In March, two carriers offloaded their cars at the port, Barnes said — the Glovis Crown on March 16 with 2,485 vehicles and the Viking Bravery on March 19 with 1,479 vehicles. On April 3, the tide reversed, with all 3,964 vehicles embarked aboard the Glovis Sky, with the nearly-800-foot vessel putting back out to sea on April 7, before calling near Vancouver, according to the ship’s tracking data.

“The big thing is you have to have property that’s available,” Barnes said. “You have to have a dock with space for a vessel that big to come in. You have to have labor availability cause it takes a lot of longshoreman to unload those things.”

The visit involves fees from a number of streams for the port and the businesses of the community, Barnes said, such as fees for pilotage, longshoremen, storage, mooring and more. For now, there are no future visits planned, Barnes said, but that could change in a heartbeat.

“That could change pretty quick. It only takes one hiccup in the system. They know we’re here and available and ready to do more,” Barnes said. “If they call this afternoon, we can have their vessel in on the next tide.”

Barnes vouched for the port’s willingness to handle more.

“The Port of Grays Harbor is always open for business,” Barnes said. “We have great people. Don’t take that for granted — people make it happen.”

The proposed Terminal 4 expansion will make more cargo-yard space available, Barnes said.

“As we develop the pontoon site into cargo yard, that gives us more square footage to do these type of activities,” Barnes said. “We can handle these type of things.”

Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@thedailyworld.com.