SM Line will be the first container carrier to call Portland since ICTSI ended its lease with the port in 2017. The terminal has been dormant for four afters after labour disruptions resulted in the departure of Hanjin Shipping, Hapag-Lloyd, and Westwood Shipping four years ago. The SM Line vessel will deliver about 150 inbound containers and pick up export loads for Asia. Its first call initiates a regular weekly service with 4,300-TEU vessels that will call at Yantian, Ningbo, and Shanghai, China; Pusan, South Korea; Vancouver, British Columbia; Seattle and Portland, with return calls in Pusan and Kwangyang, South Korea, and Yantian.
If Portland is going to attract additional liner services, International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 8 must demonstrate that it will consistently provide the productivity a carrier requires. The fate of the $93.6 million jury award against the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 8 will become clearer Feb. 14 when US District Court Judge Michael Simon is set to hear oral arguments on the union’s post-trial motion to dismiss the award, or at least reduce it.
