International Trade

Cargoes importing or exporting from the Port of Portland or Port of Vancouver utilize the Columbia Snake River System option by navigating through 8 locks and dams, traveling 465 river miles over an average three-day period.  The Port of Lewiston has connected customers to over 32 countries worldwide, handled a diverse range of containerized, specialty, roll on/roll off and break bulk cargoes, and recently extended its dock to 275-feet.

Strategically located to expand U.S. import and export opportunities while contributing to the long-term economic competitiveness of the United States, the Columbia Snake River System is part of  America’s Marine Highway Corridors supporting  sound economic, safety and environmental benefit.

Container on barge service is temporarily suspended. However, starting in Jan. 2018, the Port of Portland announced that Swire Shipping will begin offering container and general cargo service at the port’s Terminal 6. Hopefully, the resumption of container steamship service will lead to the return of container on barge service on the Columbia-Snake River System. To inquire about container shipping status, contact Kim, Port of Lewiston Container Yard Manager, at (208) 743-3209.

Before major steamship lines stopped calling the Port of Portland in April 2015, the Port of Lewiston was one of the primary inland export terminals for containerized wheat, peas and lentils on the West Coast. Agricultural products came from Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Montana, the Dakotas, Wyoming and Canada. The Port of Lewiston is still capable of moving break bulk and specialty cargoes.

Bulk grain shipments continue to move through the Port. The privately-owned Lewis-Clark Terminal (grain facility adjacent to the Port of Lewiston) handled an average of 22,500,000 bushels of grain over the past three years.

Forty percent of U.S. wheat exports are handled on the  Columbia Snake River System.