Portland

After achieving a record throughput of over 15m tonnes last year, the first eight months of 2008 saw a 1.7% fall in containerised imports and 12.4% decrease in containerised exports through Portland. However, these statistics are slightly misleading because CKYH Alliance’s decision to transition from Yang Ming to K Line in July caused a one-month gap in service.

Breakbulk volumes were also down but bulks and vehicles have performed well this year.

“Despite a down market and decreases in container volumes up and down the west coast, our numbers are still encouraging,” says Mr Thomas.

Portland has seen many developments in 2008 that have and will continue to drive business in the short and long-term, he adds. These have included the return of K Line after an absence of four years, the concession process for a new operator of the Terminal 6 container facility, the delivery of a new post-panamax crane and the progress of the channel deepening project.