Container Service at Port of Portland Saved Following Threat of Shutdown

Container Service at Port of Portland Saved Following Threat of Shutdown

Time Stamp: May 22, 2024 10:29 AM
Source Node: 2581124

The Port of Portland’s Terminal 6 will continue providing container service, following an announcement from Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek to allocate $40 million to keep operations running. 

The port had announced in April that it would shutting be down container intake by October, citing $30 million in losses over three years. Then on May 16, Gov. Kotek said that she would be including two items in the state’s 2025-27 biennial budget to fund capital investments at Terminal 6, as well as maintenance for the Columbia River shipping channel. 

Terminal 6 is Oregon’s only international container terminal. According to the Port of Portland, the initial April announcement led to a “wave of advocacy” from local businesses and lawmakers, who voiced concerns over potential impacts to shipments of crops from neighboring Eastern Washington and Idaho that typically move down the Columbia River into Oregon. 

“Gov. Kotek’s support for investing in marine container operations is a game changer, demonstrating the state’s political will to provide ongoing support for international container service and the countless benefits it provides,” the port’s chief trade and economic development officer Keith Leavitt said. 

Speaking at the Agriculture Transportation Coalition’s (AgTC) annual meeting on May 21, AgTC executive director Peter Friedmann expressed relief over the Port of Portland’s sudden reprieve. 

“It’s a viable container terminal,” he said. “The idea of shutting down a viable container port on the West Coast is crazy.”

Friedmann further noted that ending container service at the port would have made Oregon the only coastal state in the U.S. without a container terminal. 

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