Northern Trust Puts Money Into Port Assessment
By 250 News
Tuesday, April 18, 2006 03:10 PM
Northern Trust Chairman Bruce Sutherland at left, looks on as reporters interview Mike Tretheway Executive V.P of InterVistas Consulting(at right of photo)
A $73 thousand dollar "assessment" is now underway to examine how to make the best of the opportunities presented by the building of the Prince Rupert Port.
The Northern Development Trust will kick in $20 thousand, and the balance will be shared by several project partners: The Prince Rupert Port Authority, Prince George Airport Authority, CN, Provincial Ministry of Economic Development, Community Futures, Quesnel Community and Economic Development Corporation and the Northwest Corridor Development Corporation.
The assessment is expected to take about three and a half months with a final report ready by mid to late summer. The report will be prepared by InterVistas, the same Vancouver consulting firm that prepared the case for the runway expansion at the Prince George Airport.
The focus will be on understanding container transportation opportunities, and how all of Northern B.C. can benefit from distribution, servicing and manufacturing businesses.
InterVistas Mike Tretheway says despite the fact Edmonton has been working towards the development of its own container port, Prince George has a distinct advantage "Not only does Prince George have the north-south, east west corridor, the airport is on the edge of the maximum flight times from North America to Asia. You can't fly from Edmonton to Asia without making a refuelling stop" . He adds, "Edmonton will be preoccupied preparing for the full demands of the Athabasca Tar Sands Project."
P.G. Airport Authority General Manager Stieg Hoeg says Prince George will not be left behind "If Edmonton is ahead of us, its only because they have played the game, if there is any catching up to do not only will we catch up quickly, but we will surpass Edmonton in no time."
The need for an inland container port is clear, as Prince Rupert doesn't have the land base to "store" containers loaded with goods, so some other centre will have to provide that kind of service, and Prince George is an excellent choice says Tretheway "Various forest products could be shipped in one container, for example, lumber, plywood ,OSB maybe some hardware, all packed in the same container bound for store number 60 of the Japanese version of Home Depot." He says the spin offs are incredible for instance, providing accommodation for overnighting truckers, increasing international passenger (tourism) flights from Europe and Asia or the development of manufacturing facilities.
The impact on the northern B.C. economy will be incredible, and , according to Tretheway, it is there for the taking "It is almost impossible to screw up the Prince Rupert Port opportunities."
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In simplistic terms if we discontinue shipping to Vancouver and stuffing containers there, then we will stuff them here and send them to Prince Rupert. While this will create some new jobs, it will also kill off probably the same number of jobs that are presently being used to get this product to Vancouver, therefore probably no net gain. There is no new business at this time to put into containers out of this area. There will only be the same business going in a different direction.
At present Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Ashcroft, Kamloops, and Prince George are all looking a establishing an Inland Container Terminal. Seems they all have the same idea.
The loaded Containers arriving in Prince Rupert are going to be destined to Chicago, Toronto, and Memphis Tenn., and will be loaded on Trains and whistle through Prince George with no more than a crew change. At best you will get 2 125 car (250 Containers) trains per day in each direction. At present you get about 8 per day through Kamloops with no significant spin-off to that community.
The plan for the Port of Prince Rupert at this time is to have storage space available for 7000 TEU'S with room for 3000 more in Temporary storage. Will they need more space???Perhaps this assesment will determine that.
The long range plan for the Prince Rupert Terminal is to have expanded facilities for 25000 TEU'S. Perhaps Tretheway should tell Prince Rupert that they do not have the land for storing containers as they seem intent on going ahead with their plan. I suggest they know better what they can do than Tretheway does.
Time will tell, however this looks like another pipe dream to me.