Knowledge you can walk. Read the idea below, then step up to the general, across to peers or down to the specific.
Physical
Port of Portland
The Port of Portland is the port district that runs Portland International Airport and the region's marine terminals.
Learn, discuss, create, buy or invest
The idea
The Port of Portland is a port district in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area. It oversees Portland International Airport, general aviation and marine shipping. A port district is a public agency that runs the airports, docks and land used to move goods and people.
The Port owns four marine terminals, including Oregon's only deep-draft container port, where large ocean ships load and unload containers. It also owns three airports and manages five industrial parks around the metropolitan area. To keep ships moving, it owns and operates a dredge named Oregon that helps maintain the shipping channel on the lower Columbia and Willamette rivers.
The main airport it oversees, Portland International Airport, is usually called by its code, PDX. PDX is the largest airport in Oregon. The airport lies within Portland's city limits, just south of the Columbia River. The MAX Red Line light rail carries passengers between the airport and downtown Portland.
Check yourself
Question 1 of 3
In what year was the original Port of Portland established?
Composition
what it's made of
- Portland International Airport — The main airport the Port oversees, and the largest in Oregon.
- Marine terminals — Four terminals, including Oregon's only deep-draft container port.
- Airports — Three airports in all, along with general aviation services.
- Industrial parks — Five industrial parks around the metropolitan area.
- Dredge Oregon — A dredge that helps keep the shipping channel open on the lower Columbia and Willamette rivers.
Connection
how it relates
Change
how and why it evolves
- Past
- The original Port was established in 1891 by the Oregon Legislative Assembly. In 1970 the legislature created its current form by merging it with the Portland Commission of Public Docks, a city agency dating from 1910.
- Now
- Since 2019 the Port has also been a partner in the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program, which plans a new bridge to replace the Interstate Bridge.
- Next
- Keeping river channels deep enough for large ships and handling air travel are likely to stay central to the Port's work.