Westwood Shipping Withdraws from Port of Portland
Westwood Shipping’s final call to Oregon’s Port of Portland will be May 21, signaling the exit of the last remaining container shipper making regular calls to the port’s Terminal 6. The shipping company stated in a letter to customers that economics of a single call per month do not justify continued service at the port.
The Puyallup, Wash.-based Westwood Shipping called Terminal 6 with container service since July 2010, but suspended regular calls in April 2015 following the exit of Hanjin and Hapag-Lloyd in March 2015. Westwood then returned with monthly export calls in July 2015, taking about 150 containers of hay, grass seed, dried fruits, other mixed agricultural goods and paperboard for export to Japan.
“While we are disappointed with this news, we also understand the underlying economics of the carrier industry are at play like overcapacity and exceptionally low rates,” the Port of Portland said in a statement. “We are hopeful that Westwood will return to T-6 when market dynamics improve.”
The port said it will continue its drive to recruit new carrier service and assist shippers with access to markets, and that bulk, breakbulk and auto operations at terminals 2, 4, 5 and 6 are not impacted.