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Port of Portland's Marine Terminal Shipments Plummet Year Over Year by James Cronin Portland Business Journal, November 20, 2015

Grain tonnage is also down more than 45 percent to just over 2 million tons
after handling more than 3.6 million tons a year ago.

Some of the data isn't surprising, particularly the 84 percent decline in container traffic.

The number largely corresponds with the expected volume lost after a long-boiling labor dispute between the longshore union and ICTSI Oregon Inc., the company that manages the port's container business, resulted in the loss of the port's two biggest container carriers -- South Korean-based Hanjin Shipping and Germany-based Hapag-Lloyd. The container operation at Terminal 6 went three months without handling a single container, a drought that ended in April when Puyallup, Washington-based Westwood Shipping Lines resumed Portland service.

T6 has handled just 22,112 containers in 2015. At this point last year, it processed more than 141,000.

The port's other businesses are also struggling mightily.

In the break bulk category, which includes goods like railroad rails or logs that must be loaded individually and not in containers, the port last year moved 808,000 tons at this point. This year? Just 121,136 tons, including five months in which it handled no break bulk at all.

Grain tonnage is also down more than 45 percent to just over 2 million tons after handling more than 3.6 million tons a year ago.

The only category in which the port has increased volumes is auto imports, which is up 1.1 percent on the year.

You can view the entire report here. Port officials did not return requests for comment by press time.