Prince Rupert, B.C.- Pinnacle Pellet of Prince George, has been given the green light for a project that will reduce the cost of shipping its wood pellet products to its European customers, and improves access to a future market in Asia.

 

The former Prince Rupert Port Westview Grain terminal  which has been virtually dormant since it was decommissioned in the 80’s, ( a new one built on Ridley Island) will be redeveloped by Pinnacle into a terminal for shipping its wood pellets. “It means we will be able to use much larger ships than we have in the past, and we will be able to take better advantage of the Prince George to Prince Rupert transportation corridor” says Leroy Reitsma, President and COO of  Pinnacle Renewable Energy Group.

 

The project has a cost of $42 million dollars and Reitsma says they hope to have it operational by September of 2013. The terminal will provide the capacity to export two million tonnes of wood pellets a year.

 

 The environmental assessment of the Westview Terminal Redevelopment Project proposed by (Pinnacle) has been completed and the Prince Rupert Port Authority approved the project subject to an agreement on environmental health and safety performance requirements.

The two main environmental concerns about the redevelopment centred on Air Quality and Noise. Pinnacle has agreed to strict monitoring and adherence to standards as well as plans to correct any problems should the set limits be exceeded.

 

Right now, Pinnacle’s products are shipped through the Vancouver Port. Reitsma says even with a new facility at Prince Rupert, the company will continue to use the Vancouver Port  for some  shipping  as it makes sense to use both ports as the company grows.

 

“I think this is very good news, especially for those who live in the communities along the Prince George to Prince Rupert corridor” says Reitsma . He says this terminal development will be a great step towards stabilizing the wood products industry in communities suffering from the devastation brought on by the mountain pine beetle as it provides an outlet for beetle kill wood that cannot be used to make lumber.

 

The terminal development is expected to create up to 90 thousand hours of construction work and as many as 24 direct jobs in terminal operations. This is in addition to the 350 direct jobs supported by Pinnacle’s 6 pellet manufacturing  facilities in Houston, Burns Lake, Meadowbank, Quesnel , Williams Lake and Armstrong.