Shipping

Tariffs and job cuts at federal agencies are making life more complicated for the Columbia River Bar pilots who play a critical role in connecting Pacific Northwest agriculture with buyers in the rest of the world.

As Oregon legislators consider pouring millions of dollars into supporting the Port of Portland’s terminal operations, here are answers to a few basic questions.

Two freight-to-rail centers in the Willamette Valley and Eastern Oregon have failed to fulfill a single promise of boosting agricultural exports and reducing emissions.

Request comes amid projected $14 million financial loss for the terminal.

The Port of Coos Bay is the only shipping facility between San Francisco and Portland. Efforts are underway to expand its capacity and create what would be called the Pacific Coast Intermodal Port.

This week, under the watchful eyes of state and marine archaeologists, a crew of sheriff’s deputies, state parks employees and others scrambled over barnacle-crusted rocks at low tide to haul out timbers now believed to belong to the wreck of Santo Cristo de Burgos, a Spanish galleon also known as the Beeswax for the valuable wax that formed part of its cargo.

Postal workers who recall packages and letters piled up in distribution hubs a year ago are gearing up for another holiday crush.

A trip down the Snake and Columbia Rivers aboard one of the tugs that push barges of grain, wood chips, garbage and other payloads between Lewiston and Vancouver year-round.

Suzanne Stevens, editor of the Portland Business Journal, joins us for our regular business news update.

The Port of Portland's container ship business dried up earlier this year, and that's costing some inland Northwest farmers now that harvest is nearly complete.