Pasha, Chrysler and Grays Harbor Port Launch Auto Shipment Pact

The Pasha Group began shipping Chrysler cars through the Port of Grays Harbor Thursday as part of a three-year pact between the port, the logistics firm and the automaker that could ultimately see as many as 25,000 vehicles headed through the port on their way to Asia and Australia.

The first vessel load of Chrysler cars, aboard the 700-foot-long M/V Positive Passion, shipped out of the port last week, headed to ports in Japan, China, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

The shipment also marks Pasha's return to the Pacific Northwest more than three decades after leaving its Port of Portland facility in the 1970s. The Huntington Beach, Calif.-based firm, which now has facilities in Baltimore, Md., Brunswick, Ga., and San Diego, recently decided it wanted to have facilities in all four corners of the country.

The Chrysler vehicles are being shipped by rail from production facilities in the eastern United States to both the Seattle and Portland-Vancouver area, before heading to Grays Harbor. Part of the deal will also see Pasha handling some large equipment shipments for the automaker.

Pasha In Grays Harbor Port Deal With Chrysler

Huntington Beach, Calif.-based logistics firm Pasha Group announced that it has secured Chrysler Group LLC as a new customer at the Washington state Port of Grays Harbor.

Chrysler will use Pasha's Terminal 4 auto facility to support the carmaker's export vehicle requirements from the Pacific Northwest to Asia. The first vessel under the deal is set to arrive at Terminal 4 on Jan. 24, 2010.

Financial details and terms of the deal were not released.

Grays Harbor, a deep-water port located directly on the Pacific Coast, has direct Union Pacific Railroad on-dock connections that will be used by Chrysler.