Moving Goods by Land, Air and Sea
Published Mar 06, 2007
Mount Hood provides a dramatic backdrop for Portland International Airport, served by 17 airlines offering nonstop flights to 46 domestic destinations and four international cities. Condé Nast Traveler magazine named PDX the top U.S. airport in 2006.
It’s a fact: The largest importer of cars on the West Coast is Portland. Every Toyota, Honda and Hyundai that is unloaded here means an average of $346 to the local economy because of local automobile processing fees.
In 2006, those fees contributed a whopping $160 million to the region’s economy.
“We will probably handle a record 500,000 cars in 2007, plus many people don’t know that we are also the No. 1 shipping port in the U.S. for our nation’s wheat supply,” says Bill Wyatt, executive director for the Port of Portland, which was established in 1891. “In addition, we are the world’s largest exporter of soda ash, which is an industrial building block in the manufacture of glass. Portland is also a huge exporter of hay as well as potash, a soil fertilizing agent.”
In 2006, the port did a massive $11.5 billion in import and export trade along the Columbia River.
“We have an ideal location on the West Coast, so our leading trade partners for both imports and exports are the Asian countries of China, Japan and South Korea,” Wyatt says. “Portland is 107 miles up the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean, and more than 12 million tons of goods moved over the port’s docks in 2006. That’s a lot of cargo.”
Some cruise ships serve Portland, too.
TOP-RATED AIRPORT
The port not only owns and operates the seaport, it also owns and operates Portland International Airport. The highly rated airport offers more than 100 daily nonstop flights to cities across North America, as well as to Tokyo and Frankfurt, Germany.
“We served a record 14 million passengers in 2006, plus the airport handles more than a quarter million tons of air cargo each year,” Wyatt says. He also notes that Condé Nast Traveler magazine reported in October 2006 that business travelers rated Portland International as the best U.S. airport.
The Portland area also has general-aviation airports in Hillsboro, Mulino and Troutdale.
“Oregon is the seventh-most trade dependent state in the nation, so having a strong marine port and airport is vital,” Wyatt says. “One of the many nice points about Portland International is that it features a train connection to downtown Portland. In other words, airline passengers staying in downtown Portland hotels can pay $2 to take a train from the airport to the front door of where they’re staying, instead of paying for a $30 cab ride. We’ve got it figured out here in Portland.”
BY RAIL AND ROAD
Other local transportation options include Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail lines for freight, and Amtrak passenger service to and from Vancouver, British Columbia, to the north and Los Angeles to the south.
For trucking companies, Portland is an ideal point of origin and destination because Interstate 5 stretches north to Canada and south to Mexico, and Interstate 84 leads to points east.
“We’ve had a trucking operation in Portland since 1929, with 1,200 employees who know just how good the shipping logistics are in this city,” says Mitch Plaat, vice president of procurement for Con-way Inc. “I-5 and I-84 are ideal, and the airport is a premier facility to haul truck cargo that needs to be loaded onto planes. Yes, Portland is a great city for anyone in the transportation game.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
Photo by Port of Portland
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