The Port of Portland Commission has approved a temporary
incentive plan to boost business at its struggling Terminal 6 facility.
Under the plan, which was approved on a 7-2 vote Jan. 9, a
$10 per container subsidy will be given to carriers calling at the facility,
with the amount to be doled out capped at $1 million. The money will come from
rental payments made to the port by terminal operator ICTSI.
“This program is justified as a means of helping sustain the
mission critical nature of the container franchise to shippers in the State of
Oregon and throughout the region,” according to the port’s general manager of
marine business development, Sebastian Degens.
Terminal 6 experienced substantial decreases in both vessel
and gate productivity beginning in early June 2012, something the port blames
on a labor dispute over jurisdiction over the hooking and unhooking of
refrigerated containers. Although the National Labor Relations Board eventually
ruled that the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers employees should
perform the disputed work, not International Longshore and Warehouse Union
employees, the port says that decreased and inconsistent terminal labor
productivity has continued and added considerable additional expense for ICTSI
and ultimately for the carriers calling at Terminal 6.
While parties do believe that the labor issues and accompanying
terminal productivity levels will eventually improve, that does not appear
likely in the short term, according to Degens.
The port now says the per-container incentive is needed
to help facilitate implementation of long-term terminal use agreements. Under
the action approved by the commission, the incentive expires at the end of
2013.
