P.G. and Edmonton Compete for Inland Container Port

Monday, February 27, 2006 04:00 AM

The head of the Prince Rupert Port Authority, Don Krusel, says The City of Edmonton’s Development Branch has been in Prince Rupert with a view to gaining support to perhaps establishing a container port in Alberta. Krusel says "The delegation came here with a view to discuss their possible role as an inland container Port, along with Tourism as well".

Krusel said “Prince Rupert does not have a major airport , but could team up with Edmonton for a tourist package that could include rail from Edmonton to Prince Rupert and then an Alaskan cruise “.

There's more Krusel adds, "They also are interested in establishing an inland container Port in conjunction with our Port facilities." What has Prince George done? " Prince George" he said, "has had lots of discussions with us on how they could become involved and we also have talked to the Prince George Airport Authority on how we could link up with our cities tourist business."

Krusel believes Prince George, with its infrastructure, has the better facilities than most other centers but there is room for more.

Krusel says talks continue “While there has been a great deal of informal discussion between political bodies including the two mayors of Prince Rupert and Prince George no formal delegation has been in Prince Rupert , but we look forward to it “.

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Posted on Monday, February 27, 2006 04:00 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: lunarcom on February 27 2006 6:03 AM

Sorry our Mayor will not to Prince Rupert, that is just too ordinary and down to earth for him. However will fund a study for $30,000 to see if maybe someone should actually go.

Sorry for taking such a negative attitude but I have never lived in a place before that has so many studies done. The only reason for having studies done in that volume is if we have no managers in charge of those areas but from what I can see we have a manager for just about everything at city hall. I have moved every 3-4 years of my entire 50 years of life and was kind of hoping to stay in PG but beginning to wonder if I can afford the repairs to my car if I keep living here.

Does anyone know if there is an actual list of what reports/studies have all ready been done ? Maybe this was all ready looked at !

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on February 27 2006 7:32 AM

Wouldn't CN be infavour of using Edmonton as the destination for containers? The farther the containers stay on rail the more revenue.
Besides CN doesn't have good luck in BC with PG City wanting a study on whether we want rail in town anymore. What would you do if you were CN?

Posted by: giterdun on February 27 2006 7:48 AM

IT'S ABOUT TIME WE STARTED TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE RUPERT PORT AND THE INLAND PORT IN P.G. COME ON COLIN GET YOUR LAME DUCK SIDE KICK { OFFET }AND YOURSELF OUT TO PRINCE RUPERT AND START PROMOTING.THIS COULD BE THE MOST IMPORTANT DEVELOPEMENT TO HIT THIS CITY IN DECADES. LETS NOT LET EDMONTON CUT OUR GRASS..

Posted by: Norm on February 27 2006 8:34 AM

the city officials of prince george seem to think that faraway fields look green and prosperous; but they seem to forget that the fields at home are drying up. i wonder if the spin-off from the trip to italy will be greater than the loss of the proposed inland container port?

Posted by: diplomat on February 27 2006 9:24 AM

"....no formal (Prince George) delegation has been in Prince Rupert , but we look forward to it “. "

That sounds like an invitation!? Let's hope that a visit can be arranged as long as it doesn't interfere with other already scheduled trips by the Mayor and entourage to far away more prestigious destinations!

Actually I would think that P.G. should have an office/liaison person fulltime in Prince Rupert to represent our interests to the fullest possible extend.

Posted by: szd on February 27 2006 9:40 AM

I can't believe the incompetency of this administration, if we miss this opportunity I really don't know what there will be left for this city. Other opportunities may come along but with this one will bring many along with it to finally diversify our economy. And we haven't even sent a delegation to P.R. yet!! I guess the wine is better in Italy!! I finally sent an e-mail to the mayor office explaining my disgust so now I am waiting for the blah blah blah reply. Will keep you posted.

Posted by: spanky on February 27 2006 11:28 AM

Hey Colin, wake up dude! The world is passing you by while you are over playing games in Italy. What a joke.

later...............

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on February 27 2006 1:10 PM

What you guys dumping on Colin for?
CN is the one that will decide where they want the container yard.

Posted by: diplomat on February 27 2006 2:49 PM

"What you guys dumping on Colin for?
CN is the one that will decide where they want the container yard."

Now you've got Edmonton's taxpayers all up in arms and disgusted! Their Development Branch dummies didn't know that travelling to Prince Rupert was a total waste of time and money.

Well, Colin is beginning to look pretty good compared to them there Albertans!

At least he got to attend a few dynamite parties in Italy!

Ciao!

Posted by: owl on February 27 2006 3:01 PM

I think the Edmonton group just went to Rupert because they want to smell the sea air, go ocean kayaking, whale watching, ocean fishing, and bring back some Haida souveniers.

People seem to forget that Rupert is a tourist destination for some as well.

Some people are into pasta, sambucca and campari, others into wilderness kayaking to watch the sea lions .....

;-)

Posted by: Palopu on February 27 2006 4:20 PM

News Release July 8 2005 Alberta. Grande Prairie.The Alberta Government will contribute $2.75 million worth of land to kickstart development of an intermondal container facility that will speed up flow of goods in northern Alberta. The proposed terminal at Grande Prairie will reduce transportation costs, improve delivery times and enhance shippers abilit to capitalize on a burgeoning container port in Prince Rupert BC

It seems Grande Prairie, and Edmonton are keen on a Container Terminal in their Citys.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on February 27 2006 9:12 PM

Grande Praire eh? Nothing happens in PG unless council says so. Can't have things getting out of control on this side of the border!

Posted by: owl on February 27 2006 10:20 PM

more than 10 posts ....
reading Palopu's note made me think we may have been missing the obvious ...

Edmonton is the capital of Alberta ... the provincial government, not the city of edmonton is kickstarting the thing with $2.75 million of provincial land ....

Alberta has their captial in the right location, the middle of the province. If you want to "open up" the province, that is where it belongs. Some countries put their capitals in such locations for that very reason .. Berlin ... Brasilia ... South Africa even has two for that very reason .....

Posted by: owl on February 27 2006 11:16 PM

It might be a good idea to read the linked page below to get a good overview of the part of the shipping business which uses containers.

Remember, the containers go to parts of the continent which have a large population and/or a large manufacturing industry ..... and they come from parts of the continent which have a large goods producing industry....

PG has neither ....

Vancouver has its own terminal and it makes no sense to ship from Rupert to Vancouver via PG .....

Edmonton and/or Calgary are the obvious locations for the first transmodal terminal on the railway line from Rupert. Between the two cities, there is enough of a population base to switch from rail to truck.

Anything going south from here will continue on rail and will be very much dependent on the capacity changes in both Vancouver and Seattle ports over the coming years.

Perhaps there are other complicating factors which I am not aware of and someone on here can brief me on.

I know the air freight situation may be different in that the airport may have a better chance of capturing an intermodal terminal involving air to air or air to truck.

Posted by: owl on February 27 2006 11:17 PM

oops ....
http://www.tc.gc.ca/pol/en/report/anre1996/tc96_chapter_12.htm

:-)

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on February 28 2006 7:35 AM

Interesting link OWL.
Prince George has as much chance of becoming an inland container port as Burns Lake.