Portland, Ore. loses last container service with Westwood departure

The Puyallup, Wash.-based shipping company’s last call at the Port of Portland, Ore. will be Saturday, May 21.    The Port of Portland, Ore. said Westwood Shipping has announced its last call to the port will be Saturday, May 21.
   The Puyallup, Wash.-based shipping company cited economics of a single call per month do not justify continued service to the port.
   “While we are disappointed with this news, we also understand the underlying economics of the carrier industry are at play like over-capacity and exceptionally low rates,” the Port of Portland said. The port added it was hopeful that Westwood would return to its container terminal, Terminal 6, when market dynamics improve.
   According to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting’s Port Dashboard tool, Westwood Shipping is the only line currently offering direct container service to the Port of Portland, which means the port will be losing its last container service with Westwood’s departure this week. Westwood’s transpacific Service 1 Loop 2, which operates with two vessels with an average capacity of 2,048 TEUs, has a full port rotation of Vancouver (BC), Longview, Portland, Sendai, Hitachinaka, Shimizu, Yokohama, Tokyo, Busan, Osaka, Nagoya, Shimizu, Tokyo, Everett, Tacoma and Vancouver (BC), according to BlueWater Reporting.
   “We very much appreciate Westwood’s support and partnership over the last few years. Our marketing team will continue to focus on recruitment of new carrier service and assist shippers with access to markets,” the port said.
   Westwood has called the Port of Portland’s Terminal 6 with container service since July 2010. After Hanjin and Hapag-Lloyd pulled out in March 2015, Westwood suspended service the following month, but returned with monthly export calls in July 2015.
   Each call to the port exported approximately 150 containers of hay, grass seed, dried fruits, other mixed agricultural goods and paperboard to Japan.
   The Port of Portland noted that bulk, breakbulk and auto operations at terminals 2, 4, 5 and 6 will not be impacted.