Portland is stuck with several key international trade unions with no vision of Portland as an international city. Two main international cargo steamship lines have suspended services to Portland because of a labor squabble at Terminal 6. Oregonian report Rich Read has written a series of articles following the dispute. From his article “Hanjion, Hapag-Lloyd steamship lines abandon Portland as union dispute heads to judge” (here):
The current labor dispute revolves around who gets to plug, unplug and monitor refrigerated containers, or reefers, at Terminal 6. The work amounts to just two jobs -- or not even that, Jones said -- claimed by both the longshore union and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Longshoremen say their West Coast collective bargaining agreement gives 
them the tasks, while ICTSI maintains its lease agreement assigns electricians the work, which they've done for 38 years.
The economic impact of the three-week standoff is mounting. Port officials say Hanjin's ships alone generate 771 jobs in the metro area, or almost $1 million in wages per vessel call. Delays of millions of dollars worth of cargo have caused untold economic losses across the Northwest.
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber said Thursday he doesn't care who's right or wrong.
"This situation is completely unacceptable and completely avoidable," Kitzhaber said. "All the parties to this dispute have made their point. It is time to get this weight off the back of the state economy and deal with it in the appropriate venues."
It’s even worse than the Governor states. Portland could have a vibrant international trade future, but squabbles like this, and the petty, provincial thinking it reflects, will not get us there. None of the participants in the squabble (the two unions: the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 8 and the International Brotherhood of Electrical 
Workers, plus the terminal operator ICTSI Oregon Inc) have had the vision to support more Mandarin immersion or high school study abroad in China programs, or any other international education programs. They are now displaying a very parochial, self-defeating view of their short term interests. Such a view serves neither themselves nor Portland in the long run. They need to get with a larger vision of Portland as a international city, support what that will take in terms of educational changes, and find a way to settle their petty squabbles more efficiently. They will benefit from more jobs in the long run.
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