PORT HUENEME : Swedish Importer Signs 17-Year Deal

An international shipping company that imports European automobiles has signed a $1-million-a-year contract to make the Port Hueneme its primary cargo terminal on the West Coast, officials said Wednesday.

The 17 1/2-year contract with Wallenius Lines North America Inc. will establish the first scheduled cargo service in Ventura County and provide a worldwide export carrier for local merchants, company president Raymond P. Ebeling said.

For three years, Wallenius Lines has been delivering BMWs and Jaguars to the port sporadically, but the new agreement will make the stops more regular, Ebeling said.

The 30-year-old Swedish company also said it would create a vehicle preparation center on 25 acres in Oxnard by mid-1992, creating about 30 jobs. The center would be the third such operation to open in the county.

Officials at the Oxnard Harbor District, the agency that oversees the port, were pleased with the contract.

“I’d call it a major coup,” said Stanley J. Daily, president of the board of harbor district commissioners. “Especially in these tough economic times.”