Study: Port of Portland worth $4B in business

Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR), Feb 20, 2007 by Libby Tucker

The Port of Portland contributed 30,436 jobs, nearly $1.7 billion in personal income and almost $4 billion in business revenue to the Oregon economy in 2006, according to a new economic impact study released last week.

"The port has a very large and important role in Oregon," said Alec Josephson, an economist with Portland consulting firm EcoNorthwest when asked about the study. EcoNorthwest did not contribute to the port study's production.

The study, conducted by Lancaster, Pa.-based economic consulting firm Martin Associates, evaluated the economic activity due to marine cargo, air passengers and cargo and real estate activity at the Port of Portland and its three airports in Portland, Troutdale and Hillsboro.

Though the port directly employed 14,226 workers in 2006 at its marine and aviation facilities, more than 16,000 additional workers indirectly benefited from the goods and services purchased as a result of port business activities, according to the study.

In other words, the port has twice as much of an impact on the Oregon economy as its business alone; for every 10 jobs and $1 million in wages created at the port, 11 jobs and $2.3 million in wages are created elsewhere in the economy, Josephson said.

The Port of Portland plans to use the study results to make its case to the 2007 Oregon Legislature for additional transportation funding, including the governor's proposed $100 million ConnectOregon2 package. The package would follow up the $100 million ConnectOregon measures passed by the Legislature in 2005 that provided funding for rail, transit, marine and aviation projects.

"We certainly will share this report with (the Legislature), and our people are doing that right now," said Bill Wyatt, executive director of the Port of Portland. "And one of the important messages is it will be difficult to accommodate new business at our terminals without more infrastructure."

Last year the port added its third $7.5 million crane capable of unloading post-Panamax vessels - ships too wide to pass through the Panama Canal - and its fourth crane, funded by state lottery bonds, is on order for a 2008 delivery. And the port is undergoing $19 million in rail improvement projects to increase cargo capacity at its marine terminals.

But infrastructure development is not keeping pace with the port's plans for expansion, Wyatt says.

"In Portland we have a strong two-way trade (with China) and that's been a big advantage for us in the last year, and I think in the year ahead it's also likely to" stay strong, Wyatt said. "We feel very strongly we'll continue to experience double digit growth."