Attention! Port of Portland on the US West Coast to Cease Container Operations in October This Year!

Recently, the Port of Portland on the US West Coast announced that it will cease container loading and unloading operations effective October 1st of this year.

The Port of Portland boasts the only terminal in Oregon capable of handling international container cargo, but its container operations have incurred an annual loss of $13 million over the past two years, with a similar projection for the upcoming year, making it unsustainable.

Keith Leavitt, Executive Director of the Port of Portland, stated that following the breakdown of negotiations with potential third-party operators, they have made the decision to suspend operations.

He mentioned that they did not anticipate this outcome, but the financial losses continued to mount without an operator in place, coupled with a lack of financial support from the state government, necessitating the suspension of container operations.

The container berths at the Port of Portland are located at Terminal 6 (T6), the only deep-water container terminal in Oregon. It has a shoreline of 289 meters (which can extend to 867 meters with the adjacent two multi-purpose berths), a maximum depth of 12.9 meters, seven quay cranes (four of which are post-Panamax gantry cranes), a container yard of approximately 510,000 square meters, and is served by an intermodal facility with eight rail tracks connected to the mainline rail.

However, due to its location at the river mouth and compared to other ports on the US West Coast, the Port of Portland's container business has not thrived, and it rarely turned a profit when operated independently by the port authority.

With the closure of the container terminal at the Port of Portland, shippers may opt for Tacoma in Washington for their transport needs in the future.

For more shipping updates from China, Vietnam, Philippines, and Singapore to the United States, stay tuned for weekly updates from the Amasia Group. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us nytime.