I have done a couple of stories on Hanjin Shipping pulling its container ships out of Portland and the impact that would have, especially on Oregon agricultural exports. The company's problem is terrible union problems at the Portland docks and the fact that its ships have to travel 100 miles upriver to load/unload. How to solve the problem? Bribe them, of course, with $4M for their trouble. The real answer to the problem lies elsewhere, though, specifically in Astoria.
Astoria is a deepwater port just across the Columbia bar which eliminates the 200-mile roundtrip for large ships. Container and bulk loading facilities for grain and lumber would rejuvenate the coastal economy like nothing seen there in 100 years. The rail line between Astoria and Portland would have to be extensively upgraded, but this would almost certainly be privately financed if BNSF and/or Union Pacific knew that the new port was going in. Then there is the second issue of labor relations.
Oregon is going to have a "right-to-work" measure on the ballot this year. This means that a worker doesn't have to be a union member to work at a job in the state. If this is passed it would break the back of small groups like the dock workers holding the rest of us hostage for their economic gain.
Shipping is now a global market and Portland is competing with Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle, Vancouver and Prince Rupert, B.C. It is the smallest of these ports with some serious drawbacks. Paying bribes merely delays the inevitable in economics - adjust and adapt to the market or die.
www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2014/02/port_of_portland_plans_to_subs.html#incart_m-rpt-2
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