ICTSI Oregon Seeks to Fill Hanjin Void

Following the news that South Korea’s container carrier Hanjin Shipping is dropping direct calls to the US West Coast Port of Portland, the port’s Terminal 6 operator ICTSI Oregon said that retaining and attracting new carriers is now number one priority.

ICTSI Oregon says that there is substantial market demand for exporting and importing goods to and from Asia through the Port of Portland on which new carriers can capitalize and fill in the void left by Hanjin’s departure.

But the operator also warns that this will be a difficult task, given that the situation at Terminal 6 goes much deeper and has been going on much longer than the current labor dispute at other West Coast ports.

Hanjin ships have carried around 78% of containers to and from the port’s Terminal 6, moving around 1,600 containers per week. The business was bringing USD 83 million annually, according to the port’s authorities.

Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd, accounting for some 25% of overall calls at Terminal 6, remains the only major shipping company to use the terminal.