The Port of Portland has found a new private operator for Terminal 6, months after Oregon’s only international container terminal was nearly shut down.
The port announced on December 6 that it had agreed to the framework of a deal to have California-based Harbor Industrial eventually become Terminal 6’s long-term operator, with plans to solidify the exact terms within the next six months. Harbor Industrial is already familiar with the shipping hub’s daily operations, given that it currently serves as T6’s intermediary between the Port of Portland and dockworkers.
“We’re confident that with Harbor on board as a long-term operator, increasing container volumes and adequate state investment to keep marine trade moving, Terminal 6 will continue providing widespread benefits for Oregon for many years to come,” Port of Portland executive director Curtis Robinhold said.
Read More: The Push to Save Oregon’s Only Container Terminal
This comes at the tail end of what’s been a rocky year for the terminal. In April, the port announced that it planned to shut down container service at T6 by October, after suffering $30 million in losses over the last three years, including $12.3 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year alone. A month later, local businesses and lawmakers rallied enough support to grant the terminal a reprieve, with the state agreeing to allocate $40 million in capital investments to keep it running and bridge its losses in the near term.
The tenure of the terminal’s previous private operator ended in 2017, and was marred by a contentious labor dispute that dragged out in court for more than a decade, leading to T6’s two biggest customers pulling out of the port altogether. Since 2017, the Port of Portland has managed T6 itself, making it the only West Coast container terminal with a public operator. The port and its stakeholders released a 49-page business plan in August, detailing its plans to prioritize the search for a new private operator, and to renegotiate with ocean carriers to bring business back to the terminal.
