The Oregon Department of Transportation has awarded a ConnectOregon grant of $2.6 million to the Port of Portland along with tenant Auto Warehousing Co. to fund part of a $7 million expansion of auto handling facilities in the Rivergate Industrial District near Terminal 6. Plans call for AWC to develop a new 18.9-acre storage and staging yard to support the continued growth of export vehicles.
AWC leased 130 acres at Terminal 6 in 2005 and currently handles the import of Hyundai vehicles into the United States and the export of Ford vehicles manufactured in North America bound for China and Korea. Export volumes have grown steadily in the last several years, bringing the total vehicles moved by AWC to 126,000 in the last 12 months. Across the Port of Portland marine terminals, auto shipments were up 14 percent during the previous fiscal year, which ended in June.