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ICTSI departs empty Portland

The Port of Portland and Philippine terminal operator International Container Terminal Services, Inc (ICTSI) are parting ways. ICTSI has had an unhappy time at the US west coast port with no major clients – and considerable labour issues – at its Terminal 6 facility for the past year.

Severing its ties with the American port, ICTSI has agreed to pay $11.45m to the port and return $10m of equipment it bought when it took over management of the river facility.

“We were not very excited about the prospect of sitting around for the next five to 10 years with an empty terminal just collecting rent,” port executive director Bill Wyatt said yesterday. “It became clearer and clearer this was not going to get resolved anytime soon.”

The port said it has no plans to seek other terminal operators to run the site, preferring to run it by itself as it did do for many years before ICTSI came on the scene.

ICTSI originally signed a 25-year deal with Portland back in 2010, paying $4.5m a year after an initial downpayment of $8m.

Earlier this year, ICTSI also relinquished control of another port, Muara in Brunei, which has since been taken over by a Chinese entity in partnership with a state-backed Brunei conglomerate.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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