Shipper signs 10-year lease for Portland terminal

Shipping company signs 10-year lease for Portland, Maine marine terminal

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- An Icelandic shipping company has signed a 10-year lease on a waterfront freight terminal in Portland, Maine as it prepares to make the city its primary East Coast port of call beginning next month.

Eimskip says a container cargo ship will stop in Portland every 14 days carrying imports from overseas and taking on exports from Maine businesses bound for eastern Canada and Europe.

City and state officials, along with Eimskip and Pan Am Railways representatives, held a news conference Wednesday at the International Marine Terminal to tout the benefits of the return of container cargo shipping to Maine.

Eimskip USA general manager Larus Isfeld said imports from Europe will be transported from Portland by train and truck to customers in New England and beyond.