I hope this happens for Prince George! Let us all keep our fingers crossed that they like what they see. :}

As I mentioned on another thread on this topic, these eighteen delegates from Asia, are here because we've put our "money where our mouth is", not only at the airport, but also at the Rupert terminal, and demonstated that we are perfectly willing to go the extra mile to do whatever it takes to do business with them, as well as the rest of the world. I'm pretty sure they didn't come all the way here for the wine and cheese party, or to stand out on the old runway and look at "moose pasture" while enduring an endless diatribe about what we "could" do if only they would send us a boatload of money!

The same goes for Prince Rupert! They're not there to stand on a rock on an empty shoreline looking at the seagulls and listening to what "could" be done there either.

They are there to see what is happening TODAY, and what is possible right now, and TOMORROW, as well as ten, twenty, and more years from now. None of these people got to where they are today by making foolish descisions, or by sitting on their laurels watching the competition scoop up the next opportunity that presents itself either.

They folks can well afford their own wine and cheese parties, and are sure not here to be presented with a dog and pony show! We are now well positioned to show them exactly where the "beef" is when they look us in the eye and ask for it and if we didn't have the basics already in place like we do now, these Asian business folks WOULD NOT BE HERE -- period !!

I, for one, am excited about what's ahead for us with this venture, and am very pleased we've seized the opportunity when we did, and had the vision to forge ahead in spite of the naysayers.

This project WILL succeed, allbeit a little later than projected due to unforseen (yeah, even by you naysayers) world economic conditions.

Next step --- get that road in between 16 and 97, so that prospective land purchasers can drive out there and scope out where they think they'd want to "be" when this thing takes off. Its a lot easier when you can walk the potential property, rather than looking at an ariel photo, or somebody's projection map. When you can do that, things begin to happen, just as they are now when potential partners are coming all the way from Asia to "walk" the property.

There's a lot of good hard working folks right here that could use the work building that road too.

palomino

Good potential for Prince George. Glad to be part of the picture in making Prince George a great city.

I did not realize that selling people access to our natural resources was that difficult. They just invested $1.9 billion in the oil sands.

When will they invest in our human resources and technical know how used to create manufactured components, goods and services that would make us part of another industrial cluster other than the forest products one we are already part of?

That is the real question in my mind? Has anyone made any analysis of what new industrial cluster we could become part of?

We have an updated version of transportsiton inventory, but so far I have not even seen a gem of an idea of which industrial cluster could be added to start creating and shipping more goods out of here to the rest of the world. After all, I would hope that is what we are after. We have to move from the hewers of wood and drawers of oil and gas rut that we are in. Most of it is passing us by to be reworked and value added in other parts of the country and the world.

http://www.isc.hbs.edu/econ-clusters.htm

Pharmaceuticals has been suggested by some visiting Asians in the past, for instance.

Wood windows? http://international.andersenwindows.com/countries/China.htm

http://www.velux.com.cn

Kitchen cupboards? http://www.p7340-poggenpohl-beijing.com/poggenpohl_beijing/eng/standort.php

This is an ineresting one, a geographically centralized cluster of fitted kitchen manufacturers (many clusters now are world wide with their parts supply chains - automotive and aeronautics are good examples, as is the pharmaceutical industry). They have just over 50% of the world's share of exports for that line of goods.

http://data.isc.hbs.edu/cp/getProfile?profile=Clusterprofile_0191.pdf

Could we cut into that market share with this line of products? Not likely. However, there must be others where we can. Who has done that study and what was the result? Are we waiting for the Chinese to tell us. Or should we, as we have done with the airport runway, start doing the study, making a selection, start building the industry and start selling it as we are selling the fact that we have a long piec of concrete on the ground up the hill and some new docking facilities in Prince Rupert.

That is both my question and my point.

In other words, we have accomplished part of the exercise. Now waht are we doing to finish it? Dr Fung gave the exasmple of wood pellets to fire up steam generating facilities required ot remove oil from the sand. I wish he could put his mind to better use to look after our interests rather than just his interests.

What do we need to look after our own interests?

Should we be using the pellets here to assist our new manufacturing processes that the province is going to encourage to develop here to take advantage of their investments and to take the pressure off the fast growing population in the lower mainland?

If pellets are cheaper than and more quickly available than oil, gas, or hydro, then we should take advantage of that cost benefit, not China nor Alberta.

Is the airport gonna charge these airlines for fuel at the same exorbitant rates relative to what motorists pay for gas in this gritty mill town? Maybe these airplanes could put some fuel in containers, stop at PG airport and put in their own extra fuel. Just enough to get them to Alberta where fuel is cheaper. Just a thought.

I often drive to Quesnel to fill up my gas tank since it is often a couple of cents cheaper than here. I save several dollars on my gas purchases each time I fill up.

What I don't undertand is that I seem to have to fill the tank up every 5 days instead of 6 days if I buy it here. Their gas must be "watered" down.

I guess I just can't resist a bargain though.

Read some where, that those Chinese Cargo planes will be of cutting edge technology,they are a combination Hybrid-Solar powered,sail plane, when air borne will require very little fuel. PG will be utilized only as a pit stop for unloading grey water and sewage tanks, probably this is why the Americans were not to ecstatic to service them.

If you beat on a garbage can with a stick does that make you a drummer???

I strongly suggest that people look up the Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage Alaska to get a better idea as to what Prince George is up against to take any business away from this Airport.

As a matter of information the main cargo carriers in Alaska ie; Fed Ex, UPS, Alaska Cargo, Everts Air DHL, have a combined total of 898000 square feet (150 acres) of warehouse space, and parking, to look after their customs clearance, distribution, etc;.

Its highly unlikely that these people are going to relocate anywhere in North America anytime soon. In addition many International Airlines transfer cargo between planes in Anchorage. In additon hundreds of pilots live in Anchorage and fly in and out to various destinations. UPS alone has just completed additinal facilities for 80 pilots.

We are talking big business here. Huge business.

Prince George may be able to get some Airlines to land here for fuel and a tech stop, however tech stops requires skilled mechanics, and facilities to handle planes. There is more to a tech stop than fueling, and in some cases in means changing pilots. We have heard nothing about these tech stops except the fueling end of it.

Anchorage and Fairbanks Airports this April had regional, domestic, international, passenger, and cargo operators sign a new operating agreement and passenger terminal lease through June 30th 2013. Some of the signators were Everts Air, Evergreen and Korean Air Cargo, Atlas Air Inc. Singapore Airlines Cargo PTE Ltd, and China Cargo Airlines Ltd. Anchorage Airlines state that they took a business approach and in doing so we were able to reduce landing fees over the past year, ensuring they remain competitive.

Airline landing fees are based on the gross take of weight of the Aircraft. The charge in Anchorage is $1.44 per 1000 lbs of gross take off weight. A Boeing 747-400 has a gross take off weight of 875000lbs and therefore would pay a landing and take off fee of $1260.00 US, or $1386.00 Cdn. This money is paid directly to the Airport. If you had 10 Cargo Planes per day you could generate Approx $5Million dollars per year.

I have no idea what your costs would be to provide the tech stop services that would be required, however deicing, snow clearing, maintenance, etc; etc; would be very expensive. The Airports would also charge a fee on the number of Gallons (Litres) that are pumped into the planes. This usually runs around 0.04 cents per gallon. So there is money to be made. The oil companies of course would be the biggest benefactors because they supply the fuel

At the end of the day, in order to create any number of jobs you would have to have a major operation in Prince George, that would basically duplicate what is already in Anchorage.

I doubt that the established Airlines would have any stomach for duplicating their operations, and would stay where they are.

Insofar as developing industry in Prince George and shipping it around the world. This is a pipe dream of gigantic proportions. As stated by someone earlier, what would we manufacture, and where would we ship it.?????

Anchorage is a City of 250,000 people. It is a seaport, and has all the worlds airlines landing and taking off on a daily basis. I am not aware of any industry that has sprung up in Anchorage to take advantage of all the Cargo Airlines that are available to them.

Their industry is the Airline Business itself, some mining, the Military, and of course the Prudoe Bay Oilfields, but no major manufacturing industry. Some lumber, pulp, and paper.

If new industry was a non starter in Anchorage when they have all the facilities that we are striving for, how in the hell do you think we are going to get this industry to locate here. We have many similarities with Alaska. Cold Winters, Moose and Bear wandering through the streets of the City. High wages. Isolation. etc; etc; etc;.

If you sit on a sway backed Mare, does that make you a Jockey???

The more we deal with China, the less jobs we have in Canada. There's no way around that. The corporations will use the cheap labor and our airport will help ship the raw material to them.

898,000 sq feet is still 20 acres, even in Alaska or Texas. An Acre is 43,560 sf.

We used to manufacture wood windows and doors here - Woodland.

It went under after being bailed out by the federal government twice (I believe).

This is the kind of product we could manufacture here. Along those lines, we could manufacture something as simple as wood mouldings, throw them into a container and ship them wherever we want to.

So, who is going to explore why woodland did not work, whether changes could be made to make a manufacturer like that work here, and how a moulding manufacturer could work here to supply that factory and the rest of the world with mouldings.

Just a for instance in keeping with the "supplier of wood" theme.

Somehow, by just living in PG, I feel inadequate. Thanks. Disneyland. Las Vegas. They can have them. We got a casino and we got a railway museum. Who needs the Yanks? Riding the train at the museum sure beats the rides at Disneyland. Right?

In my experience people looking to purchase anything are going to look for the best deal. The Chinese delegates just have to say they are interested in investing, everyone with a counteroffer will be shouting deals at them with way better options at a better price. We all know it doesn't take much to make a better offer than ours.

Besides the fact you can't trust anything that is said by the people involved in developing the property. They will say anything to to make the sale go smoother, or to make us think the sales are happening.

They made numerous promises to the people who live around the airport, making us think they would actually take some kind of consideration for the residents that have to live here while waiting for our property to be worth something. Meanwhile they step on us like we don't exist. Have you seen the new sign at the entrance to the new development? If you look real close you will see all the trees that have appeared where my house is now.

Once again, yes I know I chose to live by the airport.
Yes, I know how important this is to PG. No, I don't understand how this gives them the right to act as if we don't exist.

Gus. I agree an acre is an acre. I should have said. 898000 sq ft of warehouse, distribution, and parking, located on 150 acres of land. Lots of room for expansion.

I know! A CHOPSTICK FACTORY!! ;-)

Seriously though, I am still excited for our airport and its prospects. As shipping worldwide increases there may simply be more business available, as opposed to 'stealing' it from someone else.