AGP, Port of Grays Harbor officially open Terminal 4 expansion

Published 1:30 am Monday, August 3, 2026

Last August, the Port of Grays Harbor hosted more than 130 guests for a T4 Project “Show and Tell” event. On the last day of July 2026, AGP and the Port hosted nearly 650 people for the grand opening of the Terminal 4 expansion project that began back in October 2024. AGP and affiliates and customers, Port staff, business leaders and elected and government officials were among the attendees at the event that was held on a postcard picture-perfect day in Grays Harbor.

Elected officials in attendance included U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), state Sen. Mike Chapman (D, 24th legislative district), state representatives Jim Walsh (R, 19th legislative district), Adam Bernbaum (D, 24th legislative district), and Steve Tharinger (D, 24th legislative district), Grays Harbor County Commissioners Rick Hole and JR Streifel, Aberdeen Mayor Douglas Orr and City Council President Sydney Swor.

After speeches by AGP executives, Port Commission President Stan Pinnick and Executive Director Leonard Barnes, Sen. Cantwell, Associate Administrator for Ports and Waterways for the Maritime Administration William Paape, Rep. Tharinger, the Port’s Director of Government and Public Affairs Kayla Dunlap directed guests to the dock for a photo opportunity and a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Attendees were then afforded an opportunity to tour the T4 facility.

“This is a historic day for the Port of Grays Harbor,” said Pinnick. “We are so grateful for all our elected officials, community and business leaders and partners that were able to join us today to celebrate. This project will have lasting, positive economic impacts and we couldn’t be more proud to celebrate this achievement alongside AGP.”

AGP has invested $200 million in the Terminal 4 expansion, the largest such project in the history of the Port of Grays Harbor. The expanded terminal facility anticipates 60 vessels per year to load up with AGP’s soy meal product and head to ports in Southeast Asia. The Port of Grays Harbor is the state’s largest commercial seafood landing port. It’s the largest exporter of soymeal on the West Coast, with products coming from the Midwest. The Terminal 4 expansion more than doubles the rail infrastructure at the Port to 90,000 feet, allowing ships to be loaded almost twice as fast, and speed soymeal grown across the United States to customers in Asia — 750 trains are expected per year along nine miles of new track. The Port will be able to set up a 110-car train in three-and-a-half hours.

AGP’s official website states, “AGP is a leading U.S. agribusiness with primary operations as a soybean processor/refiner producing and marketing soybean meal, refined soybean oil, and biodiesel. Since its formation in 1983, AGP has grown in size, scope, and reputation — both in the U.S. and internationally. Today, our owners include local and regional cooperatives representing approximately 200,000 farmers throughout the U.S. We operate 11 soybean processing plants in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota, as well as five soybean oil refineries, and three biodiesel production facilities.”

During his remarks, AGP Chairman of the Board Dean Thernes said, “What makes today especially meaningful to me is seeing the entire cooperative system come together to connect America’s producers with the rest of the world. … AGP’s mission has always been to maximize the value of member-owners, Terminal 4 is another important step in this mission. … This expansion positions AGP to meet the growing demand in Southeast Asia and elsewhere, to strengthen our ability to serve customers efficiently and reliably for years to come. … It is clear that a project of this scale does not happen by accident; it requires vision planning expertise and an incredible amount of hard work from dedicated people.”

According to Port of Grays Harbor Executive Director Leonard Barnes, more than 220 people were employed across three major contractors for the construction of the project. He said that 80 family wage jobs will be added to the Port of Grays Harbor’s operations now that the T4 expansion is complete.

“This is awesome not only for the Port of Grays Harbor but the community, jobs, opportunities for growth, for the state, for the nation. … It’s a long time coming, it’s here and we have our first ship at the dock waiting to load,” Barnes said. “We had three major general contractors, Rognlin’s, Quigg Brothers, and Brumfield Construction, those three companies alone employed over 220 union paying jobs, which led to over $60 million in local wages staying here. In the long term, it’s going to give us another 80 full-time jobs between union ILWU jobs, maintenance jobs, other things that happen, services directly to this facility. Long-term impact, this is not the end game, there will be more to come down the road.”

Within hours of the completion of the event, Sen. Cantwell issued a press release stressing the importance of investing in ports in the United States.

“ILWU 24 workers are making sure that a soybean farmer 1,000 miles away in South Dakota can compete with Asia, and that is what we’re doing here today. This $25.5 million dollar investment that helps this project is going to attract over $100 million in private sector development, and that is why you put federal dollars on the table, and that’s what you sent me to Washington to do,” said Sen. Cantwell via press release. “We are now working hard to pass another infrastructure investment bill, because we have to continue to make port infrastructure investment. And I’m going to use this project to tell all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle: ‘This is what America gets and American workers get when you make port infrastructure investment.’”

Sen. Cantwell told The Daily World that infrastructure projects like the T4 expansion are paramount to the success of regions like Grays Harbor and the country as a whole.

“Monumental. This is just about maximizing the opportunity, 95 percent of consumers live outside of the United States, and if we want to be successful we have to sell them product,” Sen. Cantwell said. “This is a great example of how we were stymied to a little degree, but how everybody basically coming together created an infrastructure improvement here in the Harbor that is going to create jobs and millions more in export opportunities. I want to show all my colleagues from Nebraska, the Dakotas, the Midwest, Iowa, all throughout that region that this is what you get when you make infrastructure investment.”

Sen. Cantwell added that this project in Grays Harbor is not only important for the region but is a shining example of what can be done in Washington state when it comes to infrastructure and economic development.

“There are no words, being here it’s almost so emotional because of that. The issue is that when you have amenities that can be accentuated that give you a competitive advantage, that means that you’re growing the economy and you’re growing in economic value,” Sen Cantwell said. “We are the gateway [for] American made products to Asia. If we want to be successful with all those Midwest products then you gotta have this infrastructure investment here. … It’s so unbelievable, it’s so impressive, it’s so magnificent in scale and again, when you think about what we’re seeing investment-wise across our state, it just mirrors the kind of opportunities, but guess what, Grays Harbor marshaled that. … Grays Harbor marshaled this success into growing a big opportunity and putting the Harbor on the map in a big way for soybeans. That’s amazing. … Today is a big, big moment in the future of Grays Harbor.”

“Today is about much more than opening another export terminal,” said Chris Schaffer, Chief Executive Officer of AGP. “This facility represents the intersection of American agriculture, renewable energy, and global trade. A soybean harvested by one of our cooperative members in the Midwest can now be processed into meal and oil, transported by rail to Grays Harbor, loaded onto a vessel, and delivered to customers across the Pacific through one of the most efficient agricultural supply chains in the world. Every step in that journey creates value for our member-owners and strengthens the competitiveness of U.S. agriculture.”

Rep. Walsh said that the T4 expansion project is a prime example of a successful public-private partnership and can be held up as a proof of concept for other initiatives.

“It is beautiful. It’s the kind of project where government and private sector firms can work together effectively, there’s a reason there are 600 people here today. This is a front-page example of when things work right,” Rep. Walsh said. “The capital projects, these infrastructure projects are in many ways the best and easiest ones for bipartisan and state and federal cooperation because they’re good. In this case this was well-managed by AGP working with the Port … it came in on-time and on-budget. We’ve got another project, the east Aberdeen rail mobility project, that’s connected to this, it’s funded in a different way, but is symbiotic with this. As AGP is bringing more unit trains in, we’re going to need to make sure that there’s an overpass at that pinchpoint, so that’s kind of next up.”

Rep. Walsh and many others at the event agreed that the Grays Harbor region is primed for a renaissance as these critical infrastructure projects come to fruition.

“It’s been a decade plus, maybe 20 years planning these things, it’s a good time to be here. In the next few years you’re going to see the projects coming together, turning into groundbreaking, turning into structure and construction and building. That’s the reason we do these jobs, it’s the reason we should do these jobs,” Rep. Walsh said. “The challenge is [to] find infrastructure projects that really do have that bow wave where they do create good down the road, five years, 10 years, 20 years down the road. That’s real leverage. Everybody talks about things like that, they talk about investment. It’s not always true, but it’s true in a project like this. This is [a] good investment in infrastructure that will be generating commerce and economic growth for decades.”

Former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, who was in town performing at the Grays Harbor County Fair, attended the event. Novoselic, who spent his formative years in the region and has recently delved into politics as chair of the Cascade Party, expressed his excitement about the project.

“It’s for family wage jobs and gives people opportunities, the jobs that built this facility and the jobs it’s going to provide … and being connected to the Midwest, and AGP, 200,000 family farms, it’s wonderful. To have the infrastructure, the water, the rail, the highway, the airport, it’s just being connected, now this is the gateway to the Pacific, it’s really cool it’s in Grays Harbor,” Novoselic said. “It’s wonderful, one thing we need to recognize is our general prosperity in the United States relative to the world. The United States is a prosperous country. … AGP came out here and invested in Grays Harbor … it just gives you confidence, and for the 21st century, just being connected globally and that the best policy is trade, trade is the best for Washington.”

Aberdeen City Council President Sydney Swor took to Facebook to express her thoughts and feelings about the project, included an intensely personal anecdote, and perhaps captured the achievement and optimism of the day in a way few could.

“This project represents far more than a new building. It’s a significant investment in Grays Harbor’s future — bringing new jobs, strengthening our local economy, supporting our working waterfront, and reinforcing our role as a major gateway for trade on the West Coast. As a City Councilmember, I couldn’t be more excited to see this level of investment in our community. Projects like this create opportunities that extend well beyond the Port, benefiting local businesses, families, and future generations,” Swor wrote, in part. “But today was also personal.”

“I was especially proud to attend alongside my husband and his family. The waterfront has been a part of their lives for generations. My husband is a longshoreman, his father has dedicated nearly 60 years to the ILWU and currently serves as the local union president, his mother has long supported the waterfront through the Women’s Auxiliary, and his brother is also a longshoreman. Seeing a project of this magnitude come to life through both the lens of public service and family tradition made today incredibly meaningful.”

Event attendees were treated to lunch catered by Lytle Seafoods of Hoquiam and bus tours of AGP’s Terminal 2 operations.