The draft of a new Port of Tacoma strategic plan calls for creation of a new common user container terminal, more cost-competitive rail service, development of the Tacoma as a strategic military port and attraction of more break bulk business to its terminals.

Those and other initiatives are designed to restart the port’s growth engine, which has been sputtering since the start of the recession more than three years ago.

The draft plan is the result of more than a year’s work by consultants, port commissioners and staff members.

A common user terminal would allow smaller customers who don’t want …

Read more »

A brisk demand from energy companies and holiday businesses for temporary workers gave Tacoma-based labor provider TrueBlue Inc. an earnings boost in the fourth quarter, the company reported today.

TrueBlue’s net income was up 91 percent for the fourth quarter of 2011 to $7.56 million from $3.96 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. Revenues during last year’s fourth quarter were $350.2 million, up 12 percent from the same period a year earlier. Adjusted for the one-week shorter accounting period in 2011, revenues were up 22 percent, the company said.

For the entire year, net income was up 55.2 percent …

Read more »

Boeing’s better-than-expected profits will mean fatter paychecks for the majority of Boeing’s Puget Sound workforce next month.

The company’s 2011 net income jumped by 21 percent, Boeing reported today.

The company’s Employee Incentive Plan will pay non-executive and non-Machinists Union members either 15 or 16 days of extra pay in their mid-February paychecks, the company announced in an internal memo today. About 109,000 employees company-wide will receive those bonuses. In the Puget Sound area, 48,497 workers will see the bonus in their paychecks on Feb. 16.

For a Boeing engineer making $100,000 a year, that means a one-time …

Read more »

Seattle-based fashion retailer Nordstrom earned a new honor today.

CareerBliss.com named the 180-store chain as the fourth happiest place to work in its annual survey of 10,000 companies. The results were based on thousands of worker interviews.

The companies were judged on such criteria as work-life balance, worker-boss relations, career advancement opportunities and worker empowerment.

Here’s what the Web site said about Nordstrom:

Nordstrom, a Seattle company that operates 90 upscale apparel stores as well as 90 off-price outlet stores, is no stranger to “best of” lists; it’s often recognized for its customer service. Nordstrom gets high marks

…

Read more »

Boeing more than 70,000 Puget Sound-area workers were all expected to show up for work as usual today despite the snow.

The company said all of its plants in Frederickson, Auburn, Renton, Boeing Field and Everett as well as its offices scattered throughout the Puget Sound area were operating normally today, said Boeing spokeswoman Cindy Wall.

Workers who faced unusual difficulties in getting to work were told to contact their supervisors about their commuting situation, said Wall.

One of India’s largest airlines, Jet Airways, today announced orders for 17 Boeing 737-800 Next Generation airliners.

Those orders were a conversion of an option to buy with Boeing.

At list prices, the order is worth $1.4 billion, though discounts are common.

The planes will be built at Boeing’s Renton plant.

Jet Airways (India) Ltd. has exercised an option to buy 17 single-aisle 737-800 planes from Boeing Co., a senior executive at India’s largest airline by market share said Friday.

Jet, like most Indian carriers, has been struggling to cut costs in a down economy. The airline has announced austerity …

Read more »

Looks like 2012 will be the Year of Meh.

According to an economic forecast presented this morning at the annual Horizons Breakfast, Pierce County’s economy will grow for the second year in a row. But it won’t feel good.

People still will have trouble finding a job. Business profits will stagnate. The housing market will continue to hurt.

This is what healing feels like after a such a wounding Recession. (I’m taking a liberty here and capitalizing it, since we capitalize the Great Depression.)

Soon-to-be former state economist Arun Raha, one of the keynote speakers, said this year’s income …

Read more »

Small business hiring was down in December both nationwide and in the Seattle metropolitan area, according to a SurePayroll survey, but small business say they plan to increase hiring in the new year.

SurePayroll is an online payroll services company.

Hiring was down 3.2 percent nationwide in December and 7.9 percent in the Seattle area, the survey found. The average small business employee paycheck was also shrinking at .8 percent off the previous December’s numbers nationwide. In the Seattle area, paychecks were off 1.4 percent through November.

But that same survey of small business owners found that 63 percent were …

Read more »