By Karen Robes Meeks
The Port of Portland on Wednesday announced its partnership with BNSF Railway to provide rail service to shippers at Terminal 6.
The new service, which began this week and will run five days a week, will ferry cargo between Portland and Seattle/Tacoma, where goods can be loaded onto ocean carriers.
The news comes on the heels of Swire Shipping’s decision to start a monthly container call at Terminal 6.
“The rail service will complement the monthly container ship call by giving our local shippers another path to market,” said Port of Portland executive director Curtis Robinhold. “We hope to continue building on this momentum and interest at Terminal 6.”
The port has also retained a consultant firm and reached out to a 22-member committee of industry stakeholders to look at what container shipping in Portland might look like in the coming years and develop a sustainable business model for Terminal 6.
They are expected to bring their findings to the port commission this month.
