May 11, 2018
CapitalPress.com
9
Container business grows at Portland intermodal facility
Competitor
questions value of
duplicating private
sector service
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
More export containers are
switching from trucks to rail-
cars at the Port of Portland’s
intermodal facility on their
way to Seattle and across the
Pacific Ocean.
While the port is optimistic
about the venture’s prospects,
a competitor claims it’s done
little but divert business from
the private sector.
After a “spotty” January,
the rail transload facility at
the port’s Terminal 6 moved
1,536 containers in February
and 2,181 containers in March,
said Ken O’Hollaren, its ma-
rine marketing director. Those
numbers include export and
import containers.
The final numbers aren’t
yet available for April, but
O’Hollaren said he expects the
number of containers handled
to remain stable or grow.
“We’re on an upward
trend,” he said.
Shippers of straw, hay,
seeds, grains, potatoes, wood
products and other agricultural
goods relied on Terminal 6 for
access to Asian markets, but
ocean-going container carriers
stopped calling at the facility
about three years ago.
Apart from lower produc-
tivity blamed on a prolonged
labor dispute with the long-
shoremen’s union, the inland
port cannot accommodate in-
creasingly popular megaships
and isn’t a major import des-
tination.
With the loss of ocean con-
tainer shipping in Portland,
exporters were forced to send
containers to more distant
ports in Seattle and Tacoma.
The port has since set-
tled its disagreement with the
longshoremen’s union and re-
Port of Portland
The Port of Portland has created another option for moving
container freight by way of a partnership with BNSF Railway at
Terminal 6. Shippers can move their product on a rail shuttle to
Puget Sound ports.
cruited the Swire ocean carrier
company to call at the facility,
but container exports remain
much lower than in the past.
Re-opening Terminal 6 as
an intermodal facility was in-
tended to allow exporters to
transfer containers from trucks
to rail rather than trucking
them all the way to Seattle and
Tacoma.
Truckers could then deliv-
er more than a container per
day, which isn’t possible when
driving to ports along Wash-
ington’s Puget Sound.
At this point, two ocean
carriers, Cosco and CMA
CGM, are using BNSF Rail-
way to ship containers to and
from Portland’s Terminal 6,
O’Hollaren said.
The port is hopeful BNSF
will attract more ocean carriers
to the facility, but both parties
are pleased with the arrange-
ment and expect it to continue
beyond the current six-month
trial period, he said.
The Port of Portland has
traditionally been oriented to-
ward container exports, which
have been stronger than con-
tainer imports. This imbalance
is a problem because imports
are necessary to make empty
containers available for ex-
ports.
Initially, the intermodal
facility had two north-bound
trains of export containers for
every one south-bound train
of import containers, but the
disparity has since narrowed,
O’Hollaren said.
“Cargo is moving in both
directions,” he said.
Due to the new intermodal
facility, Northwest Container
Services — which also pro-
vides rail transload services in
Portland — expects to handle
roughly one-third fewer con-
tainers this year, said Gary
Cardwell, the company’s divi-
sional vice president.
While the corresponding
drop in revenues won’t affect
the company’s ability to oper-
ate, it’s had to lay off 18 peo-
ple, or about one-quarter of its
workforce, he said.
“I’m not sure what benefit
the port has really brought to
the table with this service,”
Cardwell said, noting the T6
intermodal facility is duplicat-
ing a service his company has
offered for 30 years.
An analyst’s report com-
missioned by the port has
found that cargo moving
through the Terminal 6 facility
hasn’t been sufficient to make
it financially self-sustaining,
he said.
The facility is now oper-
ational thanks to an $11 mil-
lion settlement with a former
terminal operator, but that
doesn’t solve its fundamental
economic problem, Cardwell
said.
“That’s going to run out
eventually, and then what are
we going to do?” he said.
Japan millers, Washington Grain Commission sign letter of intent on club wheat
McMorris Rodgers,
Sandison, WSU,
USDA greet buyers
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
PULLMAN, Wash. —
Japanese flour millers and
Washington’s wheat industry
have committed to further de-
veloping club wheat varieties.
At a May 2 ceremony on
the Washington State Univer-
sity campus in Pullman, mem-
bers of the Japan Flour Mill-
ers Association were greeted
by Rep. Cathy McMorris
Rodgers, state Agriculture Di-
rector Derek Sandison, WSU
President Kirk Schulz, USDA
Agricultural Research Service
and WSU researchers, univer-
sity officials and Washington
Grain Commission board
members.
Association executive di-
rector Yasuo Sasaki and com-
mission CEO Glen Squires
signed a letter of intent to
develop club wheat varieties
through more technical ex-
change.
“It will confirm enhanced
cooperation in order to
strengthen the support sys-
tem of vital USDA ARS club
wheat cultivar development,
including quality evaluation,”
said Gary Bailey, the commis-
sion chairman and a St. John
farmer. “We all know how im-
portant it is for both farmers
and customers that research
be market-applicable.”
Club wheat, a subclass of
the soft white wheat grown
primarily in the Pacific North-
west and Washington, is a key
component in Japanese prod-
Photos by Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., greets members of the
Japan Flour Millers Association May 2 during a ceremony to mark
the association’s and the Washington Grain Commission’s intent to
further develop club wheat varieties. Mike Miller, chairman of U.S.
Wheat Associates and a grain commission board member, stands
behind McMorris Rodgers.
ucts. Japan is the top market
for club wheat.
Members of the associa-
tion in attendance represented
more than 75 percent of Ja-
pan’s wheat purchases, said
Mike Miller, chairman of U.S.
Wheat Associates, a com-
mission board member and a
Ritzville farmer.
Miller also told the flour
millers that the industry had
followed through on their
concerns regarding U.S. with-
drawal from the Trans-Pacific
Partnership trade deal.
“We gave you our word we
would do everything within
our power to raise awareness
of the urgency and actually
slam on the table a little bit
and make some noise with the
administration and Congress
on the importance of this
agreement,” Miller said.
Trump has read and ac-
knowledged the wheat indus-
try’s letters, Miller said. The
industry will also continue to
work with Congress, he said.
McMorris Rodgers said
Washington is the most
trade-dependent state in the
country.
“I have made it very clear
to the administration my
concerns with an across-the-
board approach to tariffs,” she
said. “We should be focusing
on illegal practices, but not
penalizing relationships or al-
lies we have developed over
decades.”
McMorris Rodgers said
she hopes to see a more tar-
geted approach from the ad-
ministration. She recently met
with Trump’s new economic
adviser, Larry Kudlow, who
told her that nothing has been
put in place. The current focus
is on China, she added.
“Everything is on the table
— tariffs, no tariffs, negoti-
ations,” McMorris Rodgers
said. She expects some an-
nouncements from the ad-
ministration in the next few
weeks, she said.
Trade mission team leader
Toshifumi Horiuchi, manag-
ing director of Nippon Flour
Mill Co., called the agreement
“truly meaningful.”
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Yasuo Sasaki, executive director of the Japan Flour Millers Association, and Glen Squires, CEO of the
Washington Grain Commission, sign a letter of intent to work together to develop club wheat varieties
May 2 on the Washington State University campus in Pullman, Wash.
19-2/101