The Port of Portland is the

port district In Canada and the United States, a port authority (less commonly a port district) is a governmental or quasi-governmental public authority for a special-purpose district usually formed by a legislative body (or bodies) to operate ports and other t ...

responsible for overseeing

Portland International Airport Portland International Airport is a joint civil–military airport and the largest airport in the U.S. state of Oregon, accounting for 90% of the state's passenger air travel and more than 95% of its air cargo. It is within Portland's city li ...

, general aviation, and marine activities in the

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Originally established in 1891 by the 16th

Oregon Legislative Assembly The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the Ho ...

, the current incarnation was created by the 1970 legislature, combining the original Port with the Portland Commission of Public Docks, a city agency dating from 1910. The Port of Portland owns four marine terminals, including Oregon's only deep-draft container port, and three airports. The Port manages five industrial parks around the metropolitan area, and they own and operate the Dredge Oregon to help maintain the navigation channel on the lower Columbia and Willamette rivers.

History

19th century

In 1891, the Oregon Legislature created the Port to dredge and maintain a shipping channel from the city of Portland to the Pacific Ocean. Through the years, the Port acquired the Commission of Public Docks, which operated public-use docks in Portland Harbor, and they built Portland's first airport.

20th century

The Port of Portland's administration was embroiled in questionable business practices in the early 1930s. Port authorities, including

James H. Polhemus James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

, the general manager of the port from 1923–1936, were found guilty of mismanagement, both through conflict of interest and

cronyism Cronyism is the spoils system practice of partiality in awarding jobs and other advantages to friends or trusted colleagues, especially in politics and between politicians and supportive organizations. For example, cronyism occurs when appointin ...

, as well as negligence, sale of equipment at lower than assessed prices, carelessness, and preferential treatment of some private shippers. Much of the blame was because of discounted rates for using the port's

dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

. Companies specifically named as beneficiaries of this

graft Graft or grafting may refer to: *Graft (politics), a form of political corruption * Graft, Netherlands, a village in the municipality of Graft-De Rijp Science and technology *Graft (surgery), a surgical procedure *Grafting, the joining of plant t ...

were

McCormick Steamship Company McCormick may refer to: Business * McCormick & Company, an American food company specializing in spices and flavorings * McCormick & Schmick's, an American restaurant chain specializing in seafood * McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, a manufact ...

and States Steamship Company. The investigating committee called for the resignation of Polhemus and other staff. On November 20, 1933, shortly after the commission found Polhemus and his staff guilty, professional auditor Frank Akin was found shot to death. His murder was never solved, leading to many conspiracy theories. In mid-December, the Port commissioners voted to reject the investigating committee brief, meaning Polhemus was exonerated. Polhemus stayed with the Port for another three years before becoming a vice president at

Portland General Electric Portland General Electric (PGE) is a Fortune 1000 public utility based in Portland, Oregon. It distributes electricity to customers in parts of Multnomah, Clackamas, Marion, Yamhill, Washington, and Polk counties - 44% of the inhabitants ...

. MacColl summarized the events in 1979, saying this:

21st century

From the mid 1970's until 2007, the Port itself operated Terminal 6, the sole

shipping container A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of ...

terminal in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, losing money every year but two while seeing its role as that of subsidizing the state's greater economy. In an attempt to operate the port sustainably, the port signed a 25-year lease in 2010 with Philippines-based

International Container Terminal Services International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) () is a global port management company headquartered in Manila, Philippines. Established on December 24, 1987, ICTSI is the Philippines' largest multinational and transnational company, havi ...

for $4.5 million annual payments. In February 2014, a safety inspection at Terminal 6 by the US

Occupational Safety and Health Administration The Occupational Safety and Health Administration'' (OSHA ) is a large regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. Congress established the agenc ...

"found ICTSI Oregon to be in violation of more than a dozen worker safety codes, such as not informing employees about potential exposure to airborne lead and having workers operate machinery that lacked proper guards against flying objects." OSHA imposed fines of $18,360 against ICTSI Oregon for the violations. In May 2014, a

National Labor Relations Board The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States with responsibilities for enforcing U.S. labor law in relation to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices. Under the Natio ...

judge ruled that the

International Longshore and Warehouse Union The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is a labor union which primarily represents dock workers on the West Coast of the United States, Hawaii, and in British Columbia, Canada. The union was established in 1937 after the 1934 Wes ...

(which represents dockworkers at all West Coast ports, including Portland) was intentionally and unlawfully slowing work, with the goal of driving business out of the Port of Portland, partly due to a dispute over having their workers setup electrical connections to refrigerated containers rather than workers belonging to a different union. On March 9, 2015,

Hanjin The Hanjin Group () is a South Korean chaebol. The group has various industries covered from transportation and airlines to hotels, tourism, and airport businesses, and one of the largest chaebols in Korea. The group includes Korean Air (KAL), ...

, a South Korean-based shipping line which accounted for 78% of all container traffic to the Port of Portland, stopped serving the Port at Terminal 6 because of low productivity (including inefficient loading and unloading) and increased costs. This decision came during a labor dispute between the terminal operator ICTSI and the ILWU. In 2013, when first announcing its intent to withdraw from Portland, Hanjin stated: “The actual charges have substantially increased, and when productivity doesn’t meet our norms, the cost goes up even more.” as the cause for its departure to other ports. On March 26, 2015, the second-largest shipping line,

Hapag-Lloyd Hapag-Lloyd AG is a German international shipping and container transportation company. Hapag-Lloyd was formed in 1970 through a merger of Hamburg-American Line (HAPAG) and North German Lloyd. History The company was formed on September 1, 1 ...

, said it was dropping the Portland call "in order to maintain the schedule integrity of the Med Pacific Service service." To replace connections to Idaho, the Port began a barge service carrying

pulse In medicine, a pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the cardiac cycle (heartbeat) by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed near the surface of the body, such as at the nec ...

exports from Lewiston to Portland in December of that year. Westwood Shipping Lines ceased service to Terminal 6 in May 2016. In November 2017, the port announced that container service to Portland would resume in January of 2018 with Hong Kong-based Swire Shipping. In February 2017, the Port of Portland and ICTSI announced they had reached a deal to end their lease agreement early, with ICTSI paying the port about $20 million. In November 2019, ICTSI Oregon won $94 million in damages in a jury trial verdict against ILWU for unlawful labor practices including "work stoppages, slowdowns, ‘safety gimmicks’ and other coercive actions," which occurred between August 2013 and March 2017 and resulted in all shippers vacating the Portland terminal. In March 2020, the judge reduced the amount to $19 million.

Jurisdiction

The Port of Portland has been considered a regional government with jurisdiction in Multnomah,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and Clackamas counties since 1973. Nine commissioners regulate the organization; they are appointed by the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

and approved by the

State Senate A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...

. Each commissioner serves a four-year term and can be reinstated to the same post indefinitely. One requirement of commissioners is that, of the nine, two must live in each of Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties while the remaining three are free to live where they choose. Commissioners elect the Port of Portland's executive director who oversees the daily operations of the port. Commissioners meet monthly to discuss the policies of the Port of Portland.

Ownership

*Four marine terminals *Five industrial parks *Three airports **

** Troutdale Airport **

Hillsboro Airport Hillsboro Airport , also known as Portland–Hillsboro Airport, is a corporate, general aviation and flight-training airport serving the city of Hillsboro, in Washington County, Oregon, United States. It is one of three airports in the Portland, ...

Swan Island Municipal Airport The Swan Island Municipal Airport was a joint civil-military airport that was operational on Swan Island in Portland, Oregon. Though it officially opened in 1927, the United States Postal Service had been using the airfield for a year. After the ...

(1927–40)

Marine terminals

Port of Portland's marine terminals are located outside the population center with nearby main line rail and interstate highways minimizing congestion for both rail and truck traffic. The Portland Harbor exports the second largest amount of

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

from the United States and the Columbia River system, including Portland, is third largest wheat export gateway in the world. The Port is the fifth largest auto import gateway in the country, and the largest mineral bulk port on the U.S. west coast. Marine terminals are located along the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

and the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

. Terminals are served by rail (

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

and

BNSF BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

railroads), connecting

interstates The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...

, and river

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

s. Around one thousand businesses and corporations are said to use the Port's marine facilities. Over 17 million tons of cargo move through Portland each year. Twelve million tons of this cargo moves through the Port of Portland-owned and operated facilities. Major exports include grain,

soda ash Sodium carbonate, , (also known as washing soda, soda ash and soda crystals) is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2CO3 and its various hydrates. All forms are white, odourless, water-soluble salts that yield moderately alkaline solutions ...

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.

, automobiles, and

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticat ...

; major imports are

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

, machinery, mineral bulks and other varied products. Imports and exports at the Port of Portland total about US$15.4 billion, annually. The Port's terminal facilities (T-2, T-4, and T-5 are on the Willamette River; T-6 is on the Columbia River): ;Terminal T-2 *52.5 acres (212,450 m²) ** Break Bulk **Bulk **Army Corps of Engineers ;Terminal T-4 *261.5 acres (1.1 km²) **Liquid shipping **Mineral shipping **Auto shipping ;Terminal T-5 *159 acres (643,450 m²) ** Grain shipping **Minerals shipping **Warehouse/manufacturing ;Terminal T-6 *419 acres (2.0 km²) **Cargo containers **Auto shipping **Steel ** Break Bulk **Rail yard access and operation

Industrial parks

The Port of Portland owns five industrial parks in the Portland metropolitan area: *Rivergate Industrial District **2,800 acres (11 km²) **Located 9 miles (14 km) NW of downtown Portland **Operates two marine terminals **Rail access (

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC is the parent company of the BNSF Railway (formerly the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway). The company is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, which is controlled by investor Warre ...

and

railroads) *Troutdale Reynolds Industrial Park **700 acres (2.83 km²) **Adjacent the Troutdale Airport *Portland International Center **458 acres (1.9 km²) **Adjacent Portland International Airport **Rail access (MAX Light Rail) * Swan Island Industrial Park/Port Center **430 acres (1.7 km²) **4.5 miles (7 km) north of downtown Portland **Rail access (Union Pacific) *Gresham Vista Business Park **221 acres **Eight general industrial lots on 203 acres

Airports

The

(PDX) is owned and operated by the Port of Portland. It is the 30th busiest airport in the United States. The PDX capture region serves a population of more than 3.5 million people in two states (Oregon and Washington). The airport offers scheduled nonstop passenger service flights to over 69 domestic destinations and 11 international cities. PDX served nearly 17 million passengers in 2015, breaking the all-time passenger record of 15.9 million in 2014. The airport averages more than 230 scheduled passenger departures daily during the busiest travel seasons, and 17 different domestic and international passenger airlines serve PDX. Portland is also well-served by 10 all-air cargo carriers. PDX serves the commercial, passenger, transport needs of the Portland Metro area, while

, also owned by the Port, serves an integral part of the region's transportation system, providing well-maintained, financially viable general aviation facilities to businesses and residents of Washington County and beyond. The Port also owns Portland-Troutdale Airport which serves as a flight training and recreational airport with an increasing emphasis on business class capability. The first airport operated by the Port of Portland was

in 1927. It owned

Portland-Mulino Airport Mulino State Airport is a public airport located at Mulino, Oregon, near the city of Molalla, about 20 nautical miles (23 mi, 37 km) south of Portland with access from Interstate 205 via Oregon Route 213. Also known as Mulin ...

, a general aviation field, from 1988 until 2009, when Portland-Mulino was transferred to the

Oregon Department of Aviation The Oregon Department of Aviation is an agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon chiefly responsible for matters relating to the continuing development of aviation as part of the state's transportation system, and the safety of its airw ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1891 establishments in Oregon River ports of the United States