Daimler Trucks North America is closing its Portland truck plant effective Oct. 30. As late as 2000, the Portland truck plant employed more than 3,000 workers, but it shrank dramatically after that. (Daimler bought Western Star, a Canadian truck company, in 2000, then closed its British Columbia plant and moved production to Portland.) In 2021 Daimler announced that Freightliner production would return to its home town with new all-electric models, the eCascadia semi truck and eM2 box truck. When the Portland plant shuts permanently on Oct. 30, its work will shift elsewhere.