PRINCE GEORGE INLAND PORT---YOU BETCHA!
DIPLOMAT,PALOPU,MIKE:
REMEMBER THOSE RESPIRATORS I WAS TALKING ABOUT--BETTER GET'M ON. DUST STORM IS COMING.

Looks very promising. Now, let's not let anyone get in the way of this development. I am specifically thinking of the natives, the environmentalists and unions.

We all need to work together on this to encourage, support rely on all of those companies who are willing to make an investment in our province, our people and our future. Percy

EXCELLENT POST PERCY.
WE ALL HAVE TO STAY FOCUSED AND ABOVE ALL--POSITIVE.

Well its good to see they are still working on this file. Huge spin offs for the whole north if they can pull it all off.

Once you’re on the super highway of commerce anything is possible. Then it comes down to quality of life and access to reliable power for businesses looking to situate on the trade route.

IMO the land between Vanderhoof and Fort Fraser was made for an inland port terminal. This is logical because it is the last and only flat piece of land prior to the cross roads at PG where goods can flow North, East, and South. With the kind of scenery and lakes around those parts they would quickly rival PG in population. Not to mention the fact that an inland port is a relatively clean industry on the local air shed and the environment.

PG would benefit through its close proximity to the port with enhanced infrastructure serving industry that would locate along the 100km corridor between PG and Vanderhoof.

IMO it would be the most economical location with the highest benefit for the north as a whole, and with substantial benefits still accrued to PG.

Time Will Tell

HEY EDDY JUST THINK..YOU COULD CHECK OUT OF THE HOME EVERY DAY AND GO WATCH THE SEALS AND THE BIG BOATS.

No, no, no. The containers would get here by RAIL, where they would be opened and the products inside dispersed via other rail/road means. Maybe even by Air? Get the picture.

Dispersed??? ...
good lord, that means we will get more of those refugees spilling out ... and we done tore down de jail guys ....!!!

100 km long corridor, eh?

soon we will become a linear city just like the Vancouver-Seattle corridor ....

and all because of a bunch of containers of Big Mac Buns .....

Time to wake up and smell the roses.

1. Thousands of trucks and Thousands of rail cars from this area presently go to Vancouver each year loaded with Lumber, Paper, and Woodpulp, and once in Vancouver this product is loaded into Containers and sent to Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and, China, and other South East Asia Ports. This has been going on for years.

2. If you take all the Containers that are presently loading in Vancouver and load them at the Pulp Mills and Sawmills in Prince George, and surronding area you would get some increase in Drayage and Loading jobs, however you would kill off all the Super B Train trucks presenlty going to Vancouver with a loss of more jobs than you would gain by loading containers here. In addition 150 Grocery Refrigerated trucks a week presenlty hauling all of the perishable commodities from Vancouver to Prince Rupert/Kitimat and all points in between would have no loads to take back to Vancouver. This would result in the Inbound rate for a truckloads being increased between $700.00 and $800.00 per truck. This increase would be passed on to the consumer and you would be paying for it everytime you bought groceries.

There is no reason to beleive that loading containers here would produce cheaper Transportation costs than the present way of handling these products. The only savings would be in having the Containers loaded at the Pulp Mills, and Lumber mills by the Companys own employees rather than have them loaded by outside Container Stuffing facilities in Vancouver. If the savings are not there then shippers will continue to ship as they presenlty do. In any event there may be a change in how this traffic is handled, that is, going to Prince Rupert, rather than Vancouver, but there will not be a net gain of jobs overall.

I suspect most people did not realize that we already ship thousands of containers of product to South East Asia out of this area, only at present is goes to Vancouver.

3. The loaded Containers from China, etc, arriving in Prince Rupert will be 95% or more destined to the American Midwest, this has already been anncounced by the Terminal Owner Hayer, and some of the Politicians. Therefore once these Containers are empty they will be immediatly looking for loads in that area and continue to look for loads as the Containers move westward empty.

The Railways will want these containers loaded in the Midwest if possible as they get more revenue the farther they haul the loads. Will there be sufficient emties available by the time the containers arrive in Prince George??Who knows?? Dont foreget the talk is about three different locations for a container terminal and one of the other three is Grande Prairie Alta, who intend to load these containers with Grain Products.

You might get some containers from Prince Rupert coming to Prince George for stores in the surronding area, however this would just replace the business that presently comes from Vancouver, so again, no gain.

This will be a good deal for;
(a) Prince Rupert
(b) Shipping Companies
(3) Container Terminal Owners
(4) Railways

The Terminals in Vancouver who presenlty load containers have already gone on record stating they have no intention of losing any of their present traffic to Prince Rupert.

So as I said at the beginning. Do not expect great things for Prince George on this issue. I hope I'm wrong, but I dont't think so.

>The Terminals in Vancouver who presenlty load containers have already gone on record stating they have no intention of losing any of their present traffic to Prince Rupert.<


It seems to me that they can say whatever they want - the determining factors will be costs and what the shippers want.

Besides, China and India will be supplying most of the manufactured goods we buy, and they will buy mostly raw materials from us.

It will be a two-way traffic of enormous proportions. This century is called the "Chinese" century for obvious reasons.

Anything that gets the insane truck traffic off our substandard highways and back unto rails I am totally in favour of!

B.C. didn't build any infrastructure worth mentioning during most of the nineties as highway construction ground to a virtual halt, it having been an item of very low priority in Victoria during those years.

Now they very same people who relegated infrastructure to the back burner are lamenting the lack of it!

Go figure, Lois!

Diplomat. Container traffic from Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, and other South East Asia points has been coming to North America for years. This business started moving in Containers in the mid nineteen seventies. The only thing that has changed in that a lot of this industry has moved to China because of the cheap labour. This is not necessarily new business for North America it is the same business only it now mostly comes from China at the expense of the other Countries I mentioned. The idea of a Container Terminal in Prince Rupert is not for ***New Container Business*** but for the same business (Some increase due to increased population in North America) but it will come through Prince Rupert to avoid the Congestion in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, BC. These Ports have been handling Containers for 30 years or more. The containers will continue to go primarily to the US Midwest, and Eastern Canadian Cities because that is where the largest percentage of the North American Population is, with the exception of California.

At the same time it was announced that they would build a Container Terminal in Prince Rupert, it was announced that the Federal Govenment would allot $500,000,000.00 for infrastructure etc for the Ports in Vancouver, BC to facilitate handling of container traffic. $500 Million is somewhat more than what is being spent in Prince Rupert.

If you dont beleive that this business is already here, and has been for sometime go out to Wal Mart, and you will notice that almost everything you pick-up is made in China.

I agree that it would not hurt to get some of the truck traffic off the highways however if you have a large Containers Yard in Prince George you will increase the number of Trucks and Containers driving around the City from the Pulp Mills, Sawmills, etc. So it comes down to having a lot more trucks in town as opposed to more trucks on the Highways. At this point in time I suggest that the infrastructure in the City is not prepared to handle the increased traffic if it occurs.

Your right that the shippers will decide which way they want to send their product, but the Railways will also decide. At present most Containers loaded in VAncouver from this area travel to VAncouver by rail, and the Railways will trade off Rail cars to Vancouver for Container loads to Prince Rupert probably not a net gain for them in this scenario.

The traffic is going to increase dramatically as China and India increase their manufacturing and exporting of goods that we are expected to consume.

Now that the West is "in" we better get help with the required infrastructure, or else.

Promises are not things that we can take to the bank and promises don't create jobs either.

Prince Rupert as a container port will start out small and then grow rapidly.

I commented more in-depth to your facts and posted that but somehow it must have gotten lost.