Port's new Terminal 6 operator calls for change

A Philippine tycoon whose company is starting a 25-year lease of Oregon's only container terminal says that longshoremen must work faster to compete in the international market.

Enrique "Ricky" Razon Jr., chairman of Inc., says moving more boxes an hour will cut costs for steamship lines, helping bring more ships, business and jobs to Portland. He aims to increase productivity by 50 percent and persuade Latin American cargo carriers to launch Portland service.

Razon has persuaded longshore union leaders to join him in boosting efficiency at the Port's Terminal 6, which his company is operating under a 25-year lease that began Feb. 12. But he'd likely have a much harder time getting environmentalists to support another item on his wish list: further deepening the Columbia River shipping channel, which was only recently dredged to 43 feet in a massive, controversial project to accommodate larger vessels.

Read more at OregonLive.com.

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