The port facilities suffered minor damage from a tsunami caused by the 1960 Valdivia earthquake off Chile and again in 1968 from the Tokachi-oki earthquake. The port facilities were continually expanded from the 1970s through the 1990s, with additional berths and the construction of a port island. Regularly scheduled container services to Southeast Asia began in 1994, to Korea and the United States in 1998, and to China in 1999. In 2001, the Hattaro Refrigerated Warehouse was completed, furnishing the Port of Hachinohe with a temperature control and humidification system for storage of agricultural products.