After years of slanted reporting, the Capital Press finally wrote a balanced article about the broader problems facing the Port of Portland.
Excerpts from the Capital Press:
Labor disputes are often blamed for discontinued ocean container shipping at Port of Portland’s “Terminal 6,” but the facility faces broader problems, a port executive said.
Even if conflicts between the port, the terminal operator and the longshoremen’s union were resolved, turmoil in the global shipping industry would affect the facility, said Keith Leavitt, the port’s chief commercial officer.
“There’s no one silver bullet here,” Leavitt said during a Sept. 22 hearing before the Oregon House Interim Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The new “megaships” carry up to 25,000, 20-foot-long containers, but the Port of Portland can only handle ships that carry 7,000 such containers, he said.
“The megaships are just not going to be calling on the Columbia river,” said Leavitt.