From Jim Matzorkis, Richmond Port Director:

Mayor and Council Members,
We are pleased to announce that Subaru of America has chosen the Port of Richmond and AWC for the distribution of their Northern California and Southwest Region vehicles.  Subaru currently operates at the Port of Vancouver Washington.  Their future distribution plans called for a California port of entry and we are pleased that they have chosen Richmond. 
Subaru is interested in entering into a five-year contract with AWC for their vehicle distribution.  The volumes will be in the 30,000 to 35,000 range annually. They will be able to use the recently developed infrastructure for the Honda Port of Entry project such as the rail facilities and upgraded wharf facilities, etc.
Subaru conducts extensive parts accessorizing which requires more labor per vehicle at their ports.  We expect that this new business will create 30-40 new full-time jobs at AWC as well as Longeshore, trucking, and railroad jobs as well. We will work closely with our Employment and Training Department to employ Richmond residents.
The estimated annual gross revenue is $1 million.  The required facility improvements for the Port will be minimal.  We are estimating they will be in the $500,000-$750,000 range.  The economics of this business deal over the five-year deal would net the port $4+ million.
We are currently undergoing a thorough legal study of the environmental impacts (CEQA) of the project.  The scope of this project will be entirely different than the major improvements conducted for Honda.  The improvements for Subaru will simply be reestablishing the accessory and vehicle repair work stations inside the existing buildings that were in place when we were providing similar service for Hyundai and Kia in 2004-2009.
The Port Department will provide a detailed report of the CEQA findings which will meet all CEQA requirements to the City Council.  We will also provide an update on our compliance with  the conditions of approval and mitigation measures that were required for the Honda Port of Entry Project.  In addition we will  provide the details of the project including financials, job creation, etc. This will all be included in our staff report when we bring a Resolution regarding Subaru to the Council for your consideration in the coming weeks. 
Please contact me if you’d like to discuss any of the aspects of this opportunity for our Port and City.  This is a brief overview so I am available to discuss this with you in more detail.
 Jim Matzorkis