Business Oregon and its partners will host six workshops as part of a statewide initiative to help small- and medium-sized businesses continue reaching international customers and suppliers. The summer trade workshops are one part of an initiative approved by Governor Kate Brown in April to identify reliable, low-cost shipping options for businesses affected by the loss of Hanjin and Hapag-Lloyd container service at the Port of Portland’s Terminal 6. The workshops with exporters and importers will help to identify the challenges and opportunities they face and will lead to specific recommendations to the 2016 Legislature for freight transportation projects. The initiative is co-sponsored by the Port of Portland, the Oregon Department of Agriculture and the Oregon Department of Transportation. The first of a series of workshops will be held in Portland on Friday, July 24. Other meetings are planned for Redmond, Hermiston, Ontario, Albany and Medford. Visit the Keep Oregon Trade Moving Web site for more details. Why global trade matters to Oregonians: Global trade supports farms, forests and manufacturers from Brookings to Baker City and Astoria to Boardman. Trade supports nearly 500,000 jobs in Oregon. Nearly 90 percent of the state’s exporters are small- or medium-sized companies, and imports into Oregon deliver supplies to our manufacturing plants and goods to our corner stores. For more, check out our trade fact sheet. About container service at the Port of Portland: The Port of Portland continues to work to build container service to Terminal 6. For more information, visit the Port of Portland’s Terminal 6 overview. Export promotion: Business Oregon’s global trade team continues to help small businesses break into new global markets. With $381,000 in export grants in fiscal year 2014, we helped 108 businesses produce $6 million in immediate sales.
