Prince Rupert Port Development Full Steam Ahead

Sunday, January 14, 2007 03:55 AM

October 1^st is the set opening date for the Prince Rupert Port, but the expansion plans are already under way. “We believe the day we open we will already be at capacity (half a million TEU’s per year) says Shaun Stevenson, the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for the Port of Prince Rupert.

The project remains on budget and on schedule, with the cranes expected to arrive in July and the first ships arriving no later than October 1^st.

He says retailers like Walmart, Best Buy and Canadian Tire are already looking at how Prince Rupert can fit into their shipping plans. He says they are in the 11^th hour of negotiations with some shipping companies and are just waiting for some confirmation from some Asian ports.

The expansion of the terminal is already in the planning process and will be completed in 2011. The expansion will increase the capacity to handle 1.5 million TEU’s. The environmental review process is already underway as is First Nations consultation.

There is also work underway on Terminal 2. That terminal will have a 2 million TEU capacity. It is expected that terminal, to be located south of Prince Rupert, could likely come on stream 2016 or 2017. “As soon as we start construction of the Fairview expansion, we will start working on Terminal 2.”

“Prince George has already done some preliminary studies and could come up with 60 thousand TEU’s per year of forest products” says Stevenson. He says there are other products, like seafood for example, as he says as may as 100 thousand TEU’s could handle seafood alone, another 80,000 could be uses to ship beef products or pork.

Stevenson says the driving force is the demand on the eastern seaboard for products from Asia, the economic opportunity for B.C. and Canada is what we come up with the backhaul to Asia.

The potential for growth is only held back by the restrictions under the Canada Marine Act which limits the borrowing capacity of the Port authority. There is also a need for the Federal Government to engage in what Stevenson calls “meaningful consultation with First Nations to ensure Port lands are unencumbered for development.”

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Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 03:55 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: thereasonableman on January 14 2007 9:16 AM

Good news for Prince Rupert, for sure.
They really need the jobs and development.

Posted by: Harbinger on January 14 2007 9:37 AM

Jobs fer the Extra Food workers? How long will it take before that is "news" on Opinion 250? A few day delay for subscribers to settle down and enter moderate comments? Again, good for Prince Rupert.

Posted by: weezerfan on January 14 2007 12:51 PM

I am surprised that extra foods didn't close years ago when I worked there. The grocery business has changed and I doubt that place made any money. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a new store built in two years once the union grace period is open. Perhaps somewhere in the Hart

Posted by: Ben Meisner on January 14 2007 1:42 PM

We at opinion250 pride ourselves in being at the very front of most stories that break in this region , ahead of anyone, that is a matter of record. We don't have , however , the ability, to read minds , if someone picks up the phone and calls another media to tell them they are shutting down, we don't have the story . As for letting things cool down, tell me one instance were 250 has ever failed to print the facts. As for who , in most cases, has the stories first, ask anyone who reads and follows the media.

Posted by: Palopu on January 14 2007 3:07 PM

Timing is everything. Corporations usually if they can, put out the bad news late on Friday so that it can be edified over the week-end. Thats what happened in this case. Certain media were informed late Friday for Saturday edition. However the local union people were only made aware of it from the media. The official notification from Company to the Union will not come until Monday Jan15th. Thats why there are still pickets up. The Union has not been officially notified as far as I know. Doing it this way gives the Company first *Dibs* on the news and may allow them to avoid any bad press.

We should now be in a position to see how long term and short term employees are treated by Corportations. Will they give them the proper severence package, and try to find jobs in other areas for them, or will they just **gut** them and throw them out. Since this store is part of a multi national corportation I suspect the latter will be true.

Posted by: Chester on January 14 2007 3:40 PM

"Meaningful consultation with First Nations" and a reliable labour force are necessary to attract business to this province.

We can have the best products along with the customers who want them, but unless we can offer a reliable source of labour to deliver them, they aren't going to be interested very long.

Strikes and Blockades cannot be part of our future if we are to enjoy the resources and potential jobs available to us. Chester

Posted by: Palopu on January 14 2007 4:33 PM

Some interesting thoughts.

The first phase of the Container Terminal in Prince Rupert will result in roughly 3-130 car trains per day in each direction through Prince George.(6 trains per day) A 130 car train would be approx 1 mile long. Once they finish the second phase this will jump to 8 trains per day in each direction, (16 per day) Say one every 2 hours. Once terminal 2 comes on stream you will have 18 trains per day in each direction (36 per day) or one train every 1 1/2 hours. In addition you will still have the trains that we are presently handling and therefore you would be in the area of 1 train every hour.

This might sound good to us who do not live close to the railway tracks, but anyone who does will be very upset with trains going past every hour. Im thinking specifically of those houses at the bottom of Ospika, and of course those people in North Nechako will probably have another **noise problem to think about**

The 60,000 Containers from this area that they think may go to Prince Rupert presently go to Vancouver so if its cost effective to go west, then thats what they will do., however if it isnt then shippers will continue to send their product to Vancouver.

This is somewhat of a high risk endeavour in that the rail trackage between Prince George and Prince Rupert is single track, and if they should have a derailment or mud slide, then the whole operation grinds to a halt. The same thing doesnt apply to containers coming out of Vancouver because if the CN Track goes out they re-route via CP and vice versa. No such luxury here.

Anyone who thinks that we have difficulty accessing the River in Prince George now should think what it will be like with a train going by every hour, and probably a huge empty container storage yard smack dab between 1st Avenue and the River.

Posted by: thereasonableman on January 14 2007 5:19 PM

Ha, ha, 8 trains a day, ha, ha, ha, 18 trains per day, ha, ha, ha, ha...yer killin' me !!!!

Expect to see nothing but trucks going back and forth along that corridor.

Posted by: owl on January 14 2007 5:54 PM

"This is somewhat of a high risk endeavour in that the rail trackage between Prince George and Prince Rupert is single track"

That is one of the benefits for PG. The company that has the contract with CN to double track some sections will work out of a building they just bought in the BCR. The building has been sitting empty for a decade or so.

Posted by: Palopu on January 14 2007 6:18 PM

I doubt if it will be double tracking Owl. What it would be is building **sidings** that can hold at least 150 rail cars so that they can pass at certain intervals along the line. There were a number of 150 car rail sidings between Prince George and Prince Rupert, however most were torn out and the steel rail was sent to upgrade the track on the Illinois Central Railway in the USA (Also owned by CN Rail) There was no plan for a container terminal at that time, and it was felt that the sidings were not needed. How things change.

I dont like to spoil TRM's laugh, but if you read some of the correspondence on the Prince Rupert Container terminal you will see that the intent is to have only one truck gate into this facility. The reason? Very little trucking.

One of these super cargo ships holds 12,500 twenty foot containers or 6,225 40ft containers which would mean that you would need 6,225 trucks to handle these containers, from just one ship. The ships will arrive approx every 9 days.

To give you some perspective 6,225 40ft Containers on trucks would be approx 58 Miles long which would mean they would stretch bumper to bumper from Prince Rupert almost to Terrace, and where would they go??

Posted by: thereasonableman on January 14 2007 9:18 PM

Well, if the trucks are going to stretch that long, why don't we space them out by 5 miles or so, and they can swap trailers back and forth all the way to PG like a fire brigade. The first guy would haul all 6,255 containers 5 miles out of town and park them. Then the next guy would take them all another 5 miles. If they were only 20 foot containers, then they would only have to take them 2.5 miles instead.

While this is happening, it would give CN time to clean up all their derailments and bury all their dead employees.

To give you some perspective, my post makes as much sense as yours does.

I'll stop laughing when I count 18 trains a day leaving Rupert. Maybe, just maybe, they don't want you to know that Hwy 16 W is going to be plugged with trucks carrying the overflow that the trains can't handle. It leaves one less hurdle to deal with, by just leaving it to be a surprise. Who knew ?

Posted by: Harbinger on January 14 2007 11:25 PM

Twin the highway, silly goose!!! If there is any money left over from the Olympics way down south. As if.

Posted by: owl on January 15 2007 12:11 AM

You are right Palopu, it is for sidings for sure. I would think, however, that if this is successful and they will be going ahead over the next decade or so, that there will be double tracking going on.

Anyone know whether there are any coal trains going again? If not, might they they be?

Posted by: owl on January 15 2007 12:12 AM

I think ther are many skeptics on here, just over different things. :-)

Posted by: Palopu on January 15 2007 5:21 PM

Some coal trains have started again from the Tumbler Ridge area, I suspect something like one train in each direction every other day or so. This will increase of course if the Price of coal stays up and the China factor remains.

Trm. The figures for the trucks are accurate, and it makes no difference if you space them out because very little if any of the business will be trucked.

Do you know anyone who is going out to purchase 3 or 4 thousand trucks to handle this traffic. Maybe you have an in with Western Star, or Inland Diesal, or Peterbilt, Im sure that if they thought there was this potential for trucks they would let someone know.

The 18 trains per day are based on the projections from Prince Rupert Port Authority, and would kick in after the completion of the Terminal 2 phase of the operation sometime around 2017. I doubt if they will every reach that number, I just pointed out what the logistics of the operation would be if they did.

In any event sometime around mid October this year you will see the 1st 3 trains heading East out of Prince George and then you can sit out on the Highway and wait for a truck from Prince Rupert with a loaded Container so show up. Dont hold you breath.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on January 16 2007 9:29 AM

If past retoric from Prince Rupert holds true,none of this will happen the way our politicians and the port of Prince Rupert would have us believe.I spent 5 years in Rupert up until giving up in 2004, and and I can attest to the disappointment and crap residents have had to deal with!The B.C. government has done little to help the situation except keep a low profile and offer very little in the way of solutions.They alone are respnonsible for one screw up after another on the pulp mill issues and just about everything in general relating to the rebuilding of Ruperts economy.(just ask Bill Belsey after his last defeat at the polls)The B.C. government, past and present must bear much of the blame for the devastation of the local economy.
The port expansion is wrought with bottlenecks and unlikely if's and scenarios.A single track will never get the job done and the government,both federal and provincial,knows it!Talk is cheap and all the trucks running between PG and Rupert won't change that.The odds of CN double tracking the rail system are slim.If the infrastructure is not there,they(that should read "ships")will NOT come.And infrastucture is really what it is all about in the long run.I would like to be wrong on this but logic tells me I may not be.The money will be spent on upgrading the port facilities alright,but it will take a lot more than that to pull it all together.Post Olympic economic down turn will also have a serious effect on what happens and when.Get ready for another major dissapointment for Prince Rupert...again!

Posted by: Chadermando on January 16 2007 6:41 PM

"And infrastucture is really what it is all about in the long run."

Exactly.

Posted by: Palopu on January 16 2007 9:11 PM

I agree with most of what you say Andyfreeze, however I beleive that they can and will be able to handle the first phase 500,000 TEU'S, which amount to approx 40 Panamax ships. One ship every 9 days. The fact that Mayer Terminals and the CN are putting money into this project, and the fact that the Port is being built, and the cranes are due to arrive in July makes me think it will happen.

Phase 2 and Terminal 2 will be another story, because as you say a single track will have difficulty handling that kind of traffic, and the CN is not likely to double track the line. Would cost close to 1 Billion dollars.

There are big Container Terminal expansions taking place all along the West coast from Vancouver to Los Angeles, and into Mexico. In addition there is plans to widen the Panama Canal to handle these huge container ships. If that happens within 10 years most of these containers will go through Panama. CN is fully aware of the huge projects taking place and will not build any infrastructure that will become redundant in 10 years.

I understood that a company called Sun Wave Forest Products (Owned by China Paper Corp) was going to re-open the pulp mill in Prince Rupert, however havent heard anything lately.