Cargo Business Newswire

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Breaking News

Hanjin to remain at Port of Portland

Hanjin Shipping told its customers in a memo Monday it has decided to keep calling Port of Portland, noting it would regularly review the port's "cost increases and inefficiencies."

"The Port of Portland's productivity has still not shown any sign of improvement for the past months," Hanjin said in the memo. "We are working closely with the terminal to solve the productivity issues in order to keep the service up and running."

Responses on Monday by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and ICTSI Oregon indicate the labor conflict is ongoing. ILWU criticized the port for subsidizing Hanjin with tax revenues and blamed terminal operator ICTSI Oregon's parent company for pressuring labor, government and shipping lines worldwide.

The port said it was not using tax money for incentives. ICTSI Oregon said it hoped ILWU would cooperate and ensure the increased productivity of its members.

"They're not saying everything is perfect at the terminal," said Sam Ruda, Port of Portland chief commercial officer. "But they'll be reviewing the operations performance on a quarterly basis, and we'll go from there."

Hanjin is the biggest container line serving the port, responsible for nearly 80 percent of the volume or approximately 1,600 containers a week at Terminal 6.

In February, Gov. John Kitzhaber asked the port to hire a third party to conduct an independent review of Terminal 6 operations to determine the reasons for the equipment shortages and delays. ILWU leaders say they will not participate in the prospective review as they think it will be weighted to benefit the port and ICTSI.

"The taxpayers of three Oregon counties have spent more than $10 million in subsidies to entice Hanjin to stay in Portland despite ICTSI's monopolistic generated performance and worldwide business model of squeezing labor, government and carriers," said union spokeswoman Jennifer Sargent said in an email.

"ICTSI Oregon Inc. stands ready to work cooperatively with all concerned, including the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, to improve operations at Terminal 6 and ensure that Hanjin will continue calling," said the terminal operation in a statement. "We are hopeful that the ILWU will also cooperate and take steps to improve the productivity of its members and return it to where it was prior to June of 2012, when the labor dispute over the refrigerated containers arose."

For more of The Oregonian story: oregonlive.com