Hyundai To Provide Weekly Transpacific Container Service To Port Of Portland

The Port of Portland will receive a new weekly transpacific container service from Hyundai Merchant Marine, one of Korea's major container carriers, starting in early April.

To accommodate this service, the Port of Portland Commission approved a two-year terminal use agreement with Hyundai. Hyundai will rotate five vessels dein the service: the Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, Tacoma and Longview.

The vessels have an average 2,000- teu capacity. To accommodate this and future sp-owth, the Port of Portland has a $16 million crane expansion project underway at Terminal 6, is about to start a major rail expansion program, and is acquiring 750 acres of West Hayden Island, adjacent to Terminal 6 on Columbia River navigation channel, for marine development. In recent years, Portland has reportedly led West Coast ports in its rate of container growth. In 1993, Portland registered a 10.1 percent rate of growth over 1992, when the West Coast growth rate was about 2-3 percent. In 1992, Portland recorded a growth of 24 percent when the West Coast average was about 6 percent.