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Hanjin Shipping to Use Larger Ships to Compensate for Lines That Are Quitting by Staff Hillsboro Argus, October 28, 2004

The one container shipping line still serving Portland will starting using larger ships to compensate for the fact that two others lines are pulling out.

Hanjin Shipping said last week it will start using larger ships Nov. 18 with North American stops in Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., and Asian stops in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Announcements earlier this fall that Hyundai Merchant Marine and "K" Line America were pulling out caused the Port of Portland to lay off 10 percent of its workforce.

It also sent the port scrambling to find more local companies that need to ship products to Asia.

Ships bring in more containers from Asia than they take back; for example, all those "made in China" labels at Fred Meyer and Target. But shipping lines say one-way movement of goods isn't profitable for them.

Hanjin's existing ships haul about 4,000 20-foot containers while the new ships can carry about 5,700. Company officials say the increase will amount to about 500 to 700 containers a week.

Agricultural producers say they will be hurt most by the two shipping lines pulling out of Portland because they now have to pay to get their products to a port, Tacoma, that gets better service.

The "K" Line pullout also threatened to eliminate service to Japan, the primary destination for Northwest agriculture products.