PORTLAND — A South Korean shipping line that badly needs to cut costs plans to leave the Port of Portland, threatening the Northwest economy, increasing costs to big importers and putting at risk the viability of the port’s international container terminal.
The Oregonian reports Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd., the Port of Portland’s biggest trans-Pacific container carrier, has made plans to pull out of Portland.
The move would jeopardize the international container terminal because prices could increase substantially for the remaining two carriers.
A Hanjin spokesman says container handling costs and low longshore labor productivity made Portland too expensive.
The longshore union and the port operator, locked in a contract dispute, blamed each other for Hanjin’s decision.
Hanjin has lost more than $100 million this year.
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