The new bulk carrier MV Mount Rainier successfully completed its maiden voyage from Asia to Portland on Sept. 12 when it pulled into the Port of Portland's Terminal 5 (T-5) to pick up 30,000 tons of Kinder Morgan potash. The Mount Rainier will deliver the potash, a potassium-based fertilizer, to South Korea as part of a spot charter contract.
Built in Japan by Kanda Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., for Hong Kong-based Pacific Basin Shipping Ltd., the new ship was not the largest to make its way up the Columbia River, but at 581 feet, it still would have dwarfed any building in the city if it were dry docked vertically. The new ship has a service speed of 14 knots, or about 16 miles per hour, which allows it to make the trip between Portland and Asia in about 14 days.
Pacific Basin Shipping operates a fleet of 50 dry bulk carrier vessels. The company ships many products to and from the Pacific Northwest including exports of potash from Canpotex, soda ash from Kinder Morgan, and forestry products from Weyerhaeuser. Pacific Basin Shipping also imports cement for Glacier Northwest, the Northwest's largest supplier of ready mixed concrete, sand, gravel, rock, cement and building materials.
The maiden voyage marked the third maiden voyage at T-5 in the last year for bulk vessels built by Kanda Shipbuilding. The first two were the MV Canpotex Redemption II and the MV Canpotex Resurrection, both on long-term charter to Canpotex.
