By Karen Robes Meeks
Officials at Ford Motor Co., Auto Warehousing Co. and the Port of Portland recently celebrated the opening of a new 18.9-acre storage and staging yard near Terminal 6.
The lot, whichcan accommodate roughly 3,000 vehicles, features energy efficient LED lighting and porous pavement to minimize stormwater runoff.
The $7 million lot expansion, which was made possible in part by a $2.6 million ConnectOregon grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation, allows the port to meet its growing auto export numbers.
Last year, the port handled nearly 291,000 vehicles in both imports and exports including more than 50,000 vehicles that moved through Terminal 6, an 11 percent jump from the previous year.
Many Ford vehicles are exported through Portland’s Terminal 6 to Asian destinations such as China, Philippines and South Korea.
