Container shipping operations at the Port of Portland’s Terminal 6 will continue under a deal that port commissioners approved with Harbor Industrial on Sept. 10.
The deal preserves jobs for longshore and other workers at Oregon’s only international container terminal. Terminal 6 container shipping operations had been at risk since the port decided in 2024 that it couldn’t afford to continue losing millions of dollars each year operating it.
Longshore workers won’t see a significant difference in their day-to-day work because Harbor Industrial has been the stevedore at the terminal since 2018, meaning they manage the labor involved in loading and unloading shipping containers.
Harbor Industrial is a privately-owned, California-based company that primarily offers crane maintenance and repair. At Terminal 6, the company employs around 45 full-time workers and more than 100 during operations, the majority of whom are represented by International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 8.
Local 8 represents a transient workforce that works at different marine facilities. Longshore workers are dispatched by the union when there are ships to load and unload, so they aren’t working regular year-round schedules. ILWU Local 8 President Stuart Strader said around 500 longshore workers do some work at the terminal in a given year. According to the Port of Portland, around 1,500 workers are employed in jobs related to Terminal 6 operations, including longshore workers, truckers, and railroad workers.
The Port of Portland laid off one IBEW-represented marine facility maintenance electrician who did crane electrical maintenance. Harbor plans to use ILWU members for crane electrical maintenance, a port spokesperson said.
Strader, who also serves as a Port of Portland Commissioner, said Local 8 and Harbor Industrial have a strong collaborative relationship with open communication and shared goals — which include doubling the shipping volume that comes through Terminal 6 in the next seven years (though Strader said he believes they’ll accomplish that goal far sooner).
“This, to me, is a best case scenario where both sides of the aisles came together and government functioned like it should on a state level,” Strader said.
Port commissioners approved plans to sell seven cranes to Harbor Industrial for $150,000 and lease the container facility to Harbor while continuing to invest $5 million per year. Harbor will pay the port based on how much cargo moves through the terminal each year, with a minimum payment of at least $27 million over the initial seven-year lease term. The port’s annual $5 million investment will cover costs to maintain and repair Terminal 6 facilities, provide security services, and cover fees like stormwater bills.
Earlier this year, the state legislature approved $20 million recommended by Gov. Tina Kotek to pay for capital improvements at Terminal 6 and $15 million for dredging the lower Columbia River. Strader said the governor’s efforts were essential to getting the deal to sustain operations.
Harbor will take over operations by the end of the year.
