Lewiston Port

Idaho is home to the most inland seaport on the West Coast. It is the Lewiston Port which is 465 river miles from the ocean and a vital part of agriculture in Idaho, Montana and the Dakotas. 70% of the pulse crops grown in the area rely on the port to reach overseas markets. Due to a year-long labor dispute with unions, container ships from Lewiston are no longer available to Northwest farmers. Recently, farmers met with industry experts to see what is possible for alternative transportation. Port manager Dave Doringsfeld explains what might be possible. “We are looking Into is container by rail and option. You have to line up your equipment with your Class A’s and you have to line up your containers to steamship lines and there are a lot of complexities that are involved there or does it make more sense to just move peas and lentils to boxcars. So can Port Lewiston help facilitate moving these lentils to Seattle/Tacoma via boxcar.” So a reasonable solution appears to be moving pulse crops to the port that serves Seattle/Tacoma which, at least for now, is fully operational. We will examine that tomorrow.