Breakbulk and Bulk Cargo Terminal at Port of Prince Rupert?
Prince Rupert, B.C. – The Port of Prince Rupert has signed a feasibility assessment agreement with SSA Marine and its wholly-owned subsidiary Western Stevedoring to explore the viability of a breakbulk and bulk import/export terminal located on Kaien Island at the Port of Prince Rupert.
The terminal project has been part of the Port’s Gateway 2020 development planning and is integrated with the Ridley Island Road, Rail and Utility Corridor.
The 80-hectare terminal would be located on the south shore of Kaien Island and be adjacent to CN’s mainline where the port authority says it would provide effective marine access for ships.
The conversion of Fairview Terminal in 2007 saw the loss of breakbulk and general cargoes capacity at the Port of Prince Rupert. The Port says a new breakbulk and bulk terminal would restore capacity for handling the types of goods and modes of transport requested by U.S., Canadian and regional shippers.
The Port says it could also provide capacity for breakbulk forest products, steel, project cargo, bulk specialty agricultural products, bulk mineral concentrates and automobiles.
An environmental assessment of the site would be required if the feasibility assessment substantiates the terminal’s potential.
“Ongoing cargo diversification is one of the highest priorities for the Port of Prince Rupert, and the potential for the return of breakbulk and general cargoes capacity to the Port of Prince Rupert represents a clear response to growing market demand in Western Canada,” said Don Krusel, president and CEO of the Port of Prince Rupert.
“We are pleased to be working with SSA Marine and Western Stevedoring, accomplished transportation service providers whose extensive global operations make them an attractive partner.”
Comments
A lot of the break bulk and concentrates have been going through Stewart BC since they tore down Fairview Terminal in 2007 to accommodate the container port.
With the opening of the Panama Canal, and the possibility of West Coast Ports losing a lot of container traffic maybe they are looking to hedge their bets.
In any event exporting from the West Coast of North America is a highly competitive business.
Should read *With the widening of the Panama Canal*
While this would be great for Prince Rupert; its small potatoes to their full potential as a port. Port of Prince Rupert could easily become a $100 billion a year throughput port in a matter of years with only a small amount of vision. We have failure on all levels when it comes to leadership in the North.
In America the ones with brains are scared out of their wits of a nuclear event in one of their ports. In 2012 congress passed the SAFE Ports Act that would require all shipping containers entering the US first be screened for nuclear materials. Obama has refused to fund the Bill because it could hamper globalism and international trade efficiency for the large multinationals. So four years after the law came into effect only 2% of container cargo today is screened for nuclear material.
Fast forward to today and only days ago North Korea detonated another nuclear device, a device as powerful as the Nagasaki detonation. North Korea being a puppet of China and China being the source of 80% of the overseas containers… screening at US ports isn’t even enough and everyone knows it. Even if they did screening at US ports a cargo container with a nuke could explode while still in port… New York Port would devastate America… Long Beach Port would wipe out all of the Long Beach and Los Angeles Ports as well as displace and kill millions bankrupting the insurance industries and America. Trump will have them pre-screened before even leaving the export port.
The SAFE Ports Act is the law. It calls for nuclear screening at all ports into the US. Trump will use this law to shut down the multinationals harvesting of America. He will ensure that every container entering America has been screened for radiological devices before a container leaves a foreign port as well as when they arrive in an American Port. Any responsible leader would do the same.
The cost for this will be estimated at nearly 200 million per port of entry and will increase the shipping container processing by about $200 per container. The globalists decry that this would hamper global trade and have been doing everything they can to forestall this. The reality is that it only takes one incident to cost many multiples more if a detonation ever does take place.
Trump will shut down foreign container shipments if they are not screened. This is a known fact. So what are we doing now to prepare for the enforcement of the SAFE Ports Act? No port in Canada has radiological screening today.
We should be doing this for our own protection as much as for future trade with America.
The only responsible thing in light of actors like China’s side kick in North Korea (maybe its China and North Korea is the fall guy)… the only responsible thing is to start to take a nuclear event seriously for arriving containers from overseas.
IMO the best option for everyone is to have the Port of Prince Rupert acting as a processing center for incoming containers from Asia for radiological testing prior to those containers continuing on by rail… or by ship to other more populous container ports on the west coast.
This would take a $200 million dollar upfront investment by the Canadian Boarder Security Establishment for the Port of Prince Rupert alone… funded no doubt through container tolls over the longer term. It would also no doubt require huge upgrades to the rail network between Prince Rupert and PG to accommodate a a ten fold increase in container traffic for containers that couldn’t access America through American ports under Trump.
Trump sees our region being proactive on this issue that is important to Trump, then we have a huge leg up when it comes to settling the softwood lumber issue under his watch.
Side benefits from taking proactive action on this front is the fact that our area then becomes central to the global transshipment routes and a key location for future factories and processing plants that require that kind of proximity. In addition it enables a safer shipment of processed hydrocarbons through the synergy with the cargo enabled expansion of our rail track thereby negating the need for a pipeline within the 800km range of cruise missiles (which would devastate this area in a war if we are also fighting a fixed target in a pipeline spill).
So when are we going to have a politician stand up for radiological testing of incoming containers at the Port of Prince Rupert?
If we are late to the game the flip side is devastating for Canadian trade to the US. We will be at the back of the line for port upgrades and shut out from foreign container shipments to America. Being at the back of the line and unable to throughput containers to America will mean the complete shut down of Prince Rupert port and all ancillary business. To gain that traffic back in the future will be next to impossible even if we could get the radiological testing onboard at a later date.
Doing nothing is an existential threat for the Port of Prince Rupert, IMO.
WOW. We would all live in a much better place if our local, provincial, national governments, and all other world leaders could tap the knowledge and understanding of how stuff should be done as you see it. You should run for president. I bet you would beat Trump and Hilary by a landslide.
I hear there might soon be an opening on the ‘weekend at Bernie’ campaign…. Time will tell 😀
Eagleone, what is the current cost of processing a container? That is, what does the added $200 for nuclear screening come to as a percentage?
It generally works out to between 10-20% of total shipping costs depending on the location.
With 35 million containers coming into North American ports annually (mostly in the US) plus God knows how many more millions going to other ports around the world you can rest assured that any solution to this problem will not be solved by using the Port of Prince Rupert.
Any solution will have to be able to be used in all the present ports under the present conditions, or have all containers on vessels scanned before they arrive at any ports.
Channeling containers through a specific port for scanning is a waste of time and money, and will never happen.
The SAFEPorts act calls for all US ports to have this screening capability as well as for screening at the export ports before ships arrive at American ports… Once the law is fully implemented.
During implementation I argue the Port of Prince Rupert will be given no grace if Trump is holding to the letter of the law to restrict global off shoring through American ports that don’t yet have the screening capability. Having the screening capability ensures staying a step ahead of competing ports and therfor channeling more of that business our way. Obviously Prince Rupert would not see all containers entering the US… Just significantly more than now depending on the disruption full implementation of the SAFE Ports Act creates.
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