Thursday, February 24, 2011

Portland Shifts to Landlord Port Model For Box Terminal

ICTSI Oregon, Inc., a subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services, Inc., has taken over the operation of the Port of Portland’s Terminal 6 – the port's sole container terminal.

Under a 25-year lease, ICTSI will operate the Terminal 6 container and breakbulk facilities. ICTSI paid the Port $8 million upon closing the deal and will make annual lease payments of $4.5 million. As with most container terminal leases, as container volumes increase at Terminal 6, so too will ICTSI's lease payments to the port.

In a statement, port officials said that ICTSI will be "enacting ambitious plans to boost service for both imports and exports while leveraging intermodal rail facilities for movement of boxes to and from inland markets by train."

The lease, approved by the Port Commission in May 2010, will see the port function in a landlord capacity. Port staff will continue to directly manage and operate the port's remaining two maritime terminals, which handle mineral and grain bulk products, breakbulk cargo and auto imports.

The Port has owned and operated the container facility since the gates first opened in 1974 and is the last major West Coast ports to move to a landlord model for the operation of container facilities. The move to the landlord model for Terminal 6 was the result of a more than four-year effort by port staff.