MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR

We are in a dynamic process:

First, we are proposing the establishment of a public corporation, the Oregon Shipping Authority (OSA), to support the development of Oregon's freight-shipping capabilities. This includes returning container shipping to Terminal 6 at the Port of Portland. It includes enhancing port facilities, for import and export, at Coos Bay and at the mouth of the Columbia River, including Warrenton/Astoria. It also includes repair and expansion of short line rail systems to better serve Oregon's businesses.

Second, we have actually begun much of the ground work as to some projects that will likely receive support from OSA. Our activity has stimulated visionary but pratical discussions about how to enhance Oregon's West Coast status as an international trade state with major export needs and substantial import needs.

This is our first newsletter. We welcome input as to information we should rely on in our work or share with others.

Kevin L. Mannix

Project Director

Oregon Shipping Group

Want to see the 10th revision of our draft legislation, the Oregon Shipping and Trade Development Act? This is a bill for the 2017 Session. You can find this on our website: www.oregonshippinggroup.com

PORT OF PORTLAND TERMINAL 6 WOES IN BRIEF

In 1974, Port of Portland’s John M. Fulton Terminal 6 was completed. The facility was built at a cost of nearly $17 million, which is over $100 million today.  Terminal 6 was managed and operated by the Port of Portland until May 2010, when Port of Portland leased Terminal 6 to International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) for a term of 25 years.  

In 2015, Hanjin and Hapag Lloyd shipping lines, which carried 97% of the container volume at Terminal 6, decided to discontinue calling at the Port of Portland due largely because of labor disputes between ICTSI and the International Longshoreman Workers Union (ILWU).  The remaining 3% of cargo volume at Terminal 6 was carried by Westwood Shipping Lines, but that carrier announced in May 2016 that it would suspend all calls to Port of Portland.  Terminal 6 now sits idle. 

In 2014, Terminal 6 captured about 43% of the Portland Region containerized cargo market and 53% of the Oregon containerized market.  The majority of that containerized cargo is now moving to Puget Sound ports.

Here are some key points about the proposed establishment of an

Oregon Shipping Authority (OSA):

The OSA is unique in that its directors will be appointed by county commissioners from all over the state, so it will have a statewide perspective. As to Terminal 6, that tax-payer funded facility will be transferred from the Port of Portland to OSA, a broad based entrepreneurial public corporation.

There presently is no government entity committed to developing and implementing a vision as to establishing Oregon as a world class trade state with the facilities and infrastructure needed to import and export goods. There is no statewide marine plan, and portions of rail and other transportation programs are assigned to various agencies. There is no coordinated program among all of these agencies to develop and implement a comprehensive freight shipping system. In essence, there are some elements of freight shipping addressed by some agencies but the state has no organization implementing a comprehensive program to tie all of these elements together. The OSA can do this.

The Port of Portland had 339,571 TEUs of containers shipped in 2003. The volume today is literally zero, despite the completion, in 2010, of a billion dollar taxpayer funded dredging project designed to ensure the passage of ships all the way up the Columbia River to Portland.

TERMINAL 6 WOES POSE ADDED SAFETY RISKS TO I-5 MOTORISTS

2015 was considered the deadliest on Oregon roads since 2008, with over 400 road deaths.  The National Safety Council estimated that motor vehicle deaths rose nationwide by 8% in 2015, but motor vehicle deaths in Oregon rose by 27% for the same time period - 3 times the national average. 

About one out of every 10 motor vehicle deaths occur in a crash involving a large truck.  It is estimated that 1,400 additional heavy trucks move each week on Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 rerouting cargo to Puget Sound ports.  Trucks account for under 5% of all vehicles on most highways, but account for up to 15% of vehicles on parts of I-5.  The increased volume of trucks moving each week to Puget Sound ports poses additional safety and congestion issues for an already congested and deadly I-5 corridor.

Action must be taken to mitigate safety risks created by congestion.  In the near-term, Oregon’s rail transportation capabilities can be improved to move more freight by rail, rather than by highway.  Such improvements should include a transload facility in the Willamette Valley, where freight is taken off of trucks and placed onto railcars, so as to reduce the amount of truck traffic headed to Portland and Puget Sound ports.