Hasbro Hightails it Out of Port

SEATTLE-Hasbro Inc., the Rhode Island-based toy manufacturer, says it will vacate roughly 420,000 sf of warehouse space at the Port of Seattle out of a total of 1.5 million sf for that facility.

Hasbro, which once operated warehouses in six cities, including Seattle, plans to consolidate its operations into an Ontario, CA facility.

The announcement this week marks the end of a 33-year-old relationship, in which Hasbro has shipped goods through the Port. Mick Schultz, a port spokesman, says the company did not lease the port-owned space, but had a contract to unpack containers, store products and repack products. The value of that contract varied, depending on volume.

As the Port of Seattle’s largest warehouse customer, Hasbro brought $8.7 million in revenue to the port in 2001. The port had expected $9.7 million in Hasbro revenue this year.

Schultz says the port is presently mulling over the best ways in which to get a good-fitting customer into that space. The warehouse facility at Terminal 106 currently houses Jay Imports and Honda and Kawasaki motorcycles.

“We’re going to take a real hard look at that operation and decide what our role is in warehousing and distribution and what that facility’s role is,” Schultz says.

If it’s not a business the port can be competitive in, it’s possible it will pursue other alternatives.