Editing Port of Seattle (section)

===World War II and after===
The economic depression and labor troubles of the 1930s (see following section ''[[#Politics and the Port|Politics and the Port]]'') were followed by the wartime economy of [[World War II]]. Even before the U.S. entered the war, export of scrap metal to Japan, of course, went to zero, and export of Eastern Washington apples to Europe fared little better, but with the Soviet Union newly an ally, Seattle became a base for trans-oceanic shipping to [[Siberia]]. The [[Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation]] (Todd Pacific) on Harbor Island scored contracts to build 45 [[destroyer]]s, which put it in a tie with [[Union Iron Works|Bethlehem Steel San Francisco]] for largest purely military ship production on the U.S. West Coast. The U.S. Navy took over the massive Smith Cove piers. The state legislature granted the Port of Seattle and other port authorities around the state exceptional powers to pursue defense-related projects without requiring the public to vote on the bond issues, which enabled the port to purchase additional land on the Harbor Island side of the East Waterway and to pursue major projects on the mainland side: Pier 42 (now part of Terminal 46), with its pilings as high as {{convert|70|ft|m}}, and a new grain elevator at South Hanford Street.<ref>{{harvp|Oldham, Blecha, et al.|2011|pp=51–52}}</ref>

U.S. entry into the war brought on further changes: effectively, the entire harbor on Elliott Bay became a U.S. military port for the duration. The [[Pacific Steamship Company]] piers south of Downtown were reworked into a Port of Embarkation (part of which now constitutes [[Coast Guard Station Seattle]], the rest of which is part of Terminal 46).<ref name=Oldham-52>{{harvp|Oldham, Blecha, et al.|2011|p=52}}</ref> One of the longest-lasting legacies of the war years was the comprehensive May 1, 1944 renumbering of all of Seattle's Elliott Bay piers into a single system encompassing the bay.<ref name=Oldham-52 /><ref name="rename-1944">{{Historylink|title = Seattle docks and piers are given new designations on May 1, 1944 | article = 9967 | author = Daryl C. McClary | date = November 26, 2011 | access-date = February 14, 2023}}</ref>

While the War years were a boom time for Seattle and its port, the immediate postwar years were not. Wartime production had made Seattle-based [[Boeing]] the region's largest employer; peace resulted in 70,000 Boeing layoffs.<ref>{{harvp|Oldham, Blecha, et al.|2011|p=55}}</ref> Nor did Seattle's port get its expected share of post-war commercial shipping traffic: for the first time ever, it was outdone even by its neighbor to the south, the far smaller city of Tacoma.<ref name=Oldham-56>{{harvp|Oldham, Blecha, et al.|2011|p=56}}</ref> While the Port of Seattle had launched what was to prove a very successful airport, wartime use of the Elliott Bay and Duwamish River waterfront had not established a particularly good basis for a peacetime port. When the military's new piers reverted to civilian use, they took business away from existing older facilities and, consequently, away from the heart of town. Further, it had been over a decade since the Port had run a major national and international publicity campaign.<ref name=Oldham-56 /><ref name=Oldham-44-45 /> And there were labor troubles (see following section ''[[#Politics and the Port|Politics and the Port]]'').

The Port was not entirely without a strategy. On the shore of the area around [[Pioneer Square, Seattle|Pioneer Square]] and immediately south, they purchased  and modernized Piers 43 and 45 through 49 from the Pacific Coast Company<ref name=Oldham-59>{{harvp|Oldham, Blecha, et al.|2011|p=59}}</ref> Piers 43, 45, 46, and 47 were eventually incorporated into present-day Terminal 46.<ref name=Oldham-59 /> Fishermen's Terminal at Salmon Bay was enlarged and upgraded,<ref name=Oldham-59 /> as was the East Waterway Dock on Harbor Island.<ref name=Oldham-59 /> Still, they failed to support Eastern Washington farmers with a modern grain terminal, and that trade was lost, for the time, to Portland and Tacoma.<ref name=Oldham-59 />

In 1949 the U.S. Department of Commerce designated a [[Foreign-trade zones of the United States|foreign-trade zone]] (FTZ) on Harbor Island.<ref name=Oldham-59 /><ref name=US-ITA>{{cite web |url=http://enforcement.trade.gov/ftzpage/orders/ftzorder.html |title=U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones Board Order Summary |publisher= U.S. Department of Commerce, [[International Trade Administration]] |access-date=September 16, 2016 }}</ref> At the urging of the local business community, the Port invested heavily in gaining this designation and in building the facility, but it almost certainly turned out to be a money-loser over the next few decades.<ref name=Oldham-59 /> FTZ status was vastly expanded in 1989, encompassing virtually all of the Port's seaport and airport acreage, a much better proposition than the single small facility.<ref>{{harvp|Oldham, Blecha, et al.|2011|p=92}}</ref>