Americas News
Hapag-Lloyd to End Portland Calls
Hapag-Lloyd has exited its operations at the Port of Portland on its Mediterranean Pacific Service (MPS), container terminal operator ICTSI Oregon, Inc. confirmed Wednesday.
The announcement comes one month after Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd also decided to stop calling on the port.
According to local media, Hapag-Lloyd and Hanjin made up nearly all of ICTSI Oregon's Terminal 6 business.
Westwood Shipping Lines is reportedly the sole remaining shipper moving product through the container port, having signed a contract until December 2015.
ICTSI Oregon said that its highest priority would be to attract and retain new business.
However, the operator also issued scathing remarks against the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), having attributed the terminal's tarnished reputation to three year's worth of work stoppages and delays.
"While ICTSI Oregon will continue efforts to attract new customers, no carrier will want to make a long-term commitment to the terminal so long as ILWU workers delay cargo and vessels as a strong-arm tactic to get what they want," the company said.
"We hold the ILWU fully accountable for its actions; therefore, it is imperative that the ILWU leadership in San Francisco publicly commit that its efforts to interfere with productivity in Portland are over."
A labour dispute which caused stoppages and delays in ports across the U.S. West Coast came to a close in February after more than seven months, but not before some shippers had already moved to permanently change their ports of call.
Last month, both ILWU branches in San Francisco and Portland were fined by the District Court of Oregon over $50,000 for willfully and intentionally violating a previous injunction against work stoppages and slowdowns.
