The troubled port of Portland has requested state funding from the Oregon legislature of $10m to cover losses. The port’s Terminal 6 container facility has lost its client base in recent years and faces a projected loss of $14m this year.
The port’s executive director Curtis Robinhold warned in a letter to Oregon politicians: “Without other funding to offset ongoing losses associated with container operations, we will be forced to begin conversations about ending container service at T6.”
Manila-headquartered International Container Terminal Services, Inc (ICTSI) originally signed a 25-year deal with Portland back in 2010, paying $4.5m a year after an initial downpayment of $8m. In 2017 it quit the port with no major clients – and considerable labour issues – at its Terminal 6 facility, Oregon’s only container terminal. A court ruled later that the local chapter of the ILWU had sabotaged shipping traffic at the terminal through years of labour slowdowns and stoppages.
