Missed the boat?

The airport runway expansion has not been decided on either, no plans.

Times is very close to running out on these ideas to build business and attract investors. Investors are way quick at deciding where they think the safest spot to invest is. The airport is still a little iffy pipe dream, and the city is getting as bad as any banana republic to build in. I'd say places like Grande Prairie is more familiar with the needs of investors. Investors aren't cheap, but they do like to see some action, and it ain't happening here. Sigh.

I remember talk of the NE coal impact on the economy on PG. Too bad the city couldn't tax the miles of coal cars that never stopped here. Next it will be containers flowing the other way and PG gets a front row seat.

The containers will stay on the cars unless there is an investment that they can to use in PG. Bye-bye containers!

"Initiatives Prince George�s Kathy Scouten says the report will be distributed first to the stakeholders."

Most of the money for the report is coming from the taxpayers indirectly through the various organizations that have been set up to feed tax money into specfic areas.

Thus we are the funding stakeholders. So why do we not get to see the report once it is done? What in the report is so special that taxpayers are not allowed to see it? Is there a tactical plan or two in there which competitors will be able to use? If so, then remove it from a publicly available document. Are our competitors keeping their information from us?

"If the report is not released until November, the window for any needed construction becomes very small"

What organization would build a facility based on speculation only? I would think that putting millions into a goods handling facility would require some sort of contractual committment to use the facility for some reasonable length of time before it would be built. Possibly, as an incentive, government might fund a portion of that construction.

Also, if the efficient flow of goods to and from Rupert would depend on additional goods handling facilities somewhere on land on the way, I would have thought that they would have been constructed in conjunction with the port.

I would assume that the port would make it easy for potential clients to know what facilities are available between the port and final regional distribution destinations that might allow goods to be redirected in differing directions.

But who knows, it might be easier to send all of it to Winnipeg and from there send it back to Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, etc. ....

By the time the report is released, most of the inland port facilities will already have been allocated and proceeded with. Anyone waiting for the report to come out is literally going to miss the ship.

CN has already identified their facilities off River Road and they're seeking another location somewhere in the BCR on the rail link... something like the former Netherlands site currently used by Dollar Saver, Brink and PG Log Sort.

Rempel has bought about 2,000 acres out by the airport.

The site optioned by Pomeroy on Hwy 16 East, across from Ritchie Bros., for a hotel development, will likely be redirected to inland port.

Other lands in the Danson Industrial Park are being speculated on to the point of rail spurs being built.

I'm just not too sure what's going to be left for anyone waiting for this report to be published.

Its time to wake up. Here are a couple of quotes that may help you people grasp this Container Business.

CN News release June 14th 2006

**The Prince Rupert terminal will create a new North American gateway for Asian goods destined for the principal centres of Canada and the United States Midwest and South. These containers will travel over CN's North American network from Prince Rupert to Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, and Memphis Tenn.**

If you look up MAHER Terminals on the Internet you will see a Video put out by CN Rail, that states containers from Prince Rupert will be destined to Major Terminals 1. Toronto Ont. 2.Montreal Que. 3. Chicago Ill. 4 Memphis Tenn.

In other words the Containers will be loaded on rail cars in Prince Rupert and go to these destinations. How much clearer does it need to be.

Quote from Maher Terminals INc. July 26 2004

**The new Prince Rupert Container Terminal will offer the most direct and convenient service for intermodal trade between Aisa and Central North America and is expected to become a major hub for Mid-West American trade**

Starting to get the picture. No business for Prince George unless you consider yourselfs part of the Mid-West.

There will be some business from this area for loading into the Containers coming back from the Mid-West and Eastern Canada, however at this point in time I suspect they have not decided if they will continue to load through Vancouver, or if they will rail to Prince Rupert and then load in Containers, or if they will load the containers in Prince George and then ship them to Prince Rupert, No matter how they do it this will just be the business that now goes to Vancouver, going to Prince Rupert so dont expect a big boom in business.

Dont for one minute think that CN Rail, Maher Terminals, The Port of Prince Rupert, and the BC Government would spend in excess of $350 Million and not know Where, When, and How this business would be handled. This was all decided before one red cent was spent.

We'll see what kind of information will come out of this report, however I suspect that it will be money down the drain.