$93.6M awarded to former Port of Portland terminal operator for losses

PORTLAND — A federal jury has awarded $93.6 million to the former operator of the Port of Portland’s container terminal, finding the dock workers union sabotaged shipping traffic through years of labor slowdowns and stoppages.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the Philippine-owned ICTSI Oregon, which signed a 25-year lease in 2010 to operate Terminal 6, left the port in 2017.

The company says the terminal was idled by labor strife it says the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and its Local 8 chapter encouraged.

That marked the effective end to Oregon’s only container terminal assessible by large ocean-crossing cargo vessels.

The verdict followed a civil trial before U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon in Portland and years of disputes in court and before the National Labor Relations Board.

The union’s lawyers said declines in productivity at Terminal 6 resulted from a range of factors: market forces, geographic limitations of the port situated so far inland with a shallow river depth for big vessels and dismissive management that caused a demoralized workforce.