Port Ready to Party

Friday, September 07, 2007 03:59 AM

The first ship may not be arriving until October, but the official opening of the new Prince Rupert Port is set for Wednesday, September 12^th.

The three massive cranes arrived on the 20^th of August and the final touches are being placed on the installation. The webcam of the terminal site provides a live time feed of activity at what will soon be the newest link with Asia.

The agenda has been set for the 12^th, and it looks like this:

11:30 a.m. Arrivals to the Terminal, Bar-B-Q lunch featuring local fresh cuisine
1:00 p.m. Opening Ceremony showcasing the Partners, followed by tours of the Terminal
5:00 Community Celebration. “The Port is excited to be inviting the families of Prince Rupert to an exciting festival that celebrates the Terminal and what it is bringing to our community.”

There have been some special contests underway in the Prince Rupert area leading up to the opening. The contests include:

The Apprentice-Prince Rupert, contestants submitted a one page essay outlining how they would run the terminal if they were the boss . The prize? Be Port of Prince Rupert CEO Don Krusel’s apprentice for a day.

Young people were also encouraged to create a video about how they have been inspired by the Port. Kids 12 and under have been invited to submit their drawings of what they think a container port looks like.

There is already confirmation of an Air Canada flight from Edmonton to Prince Rupert especially for this event. The flight will be making a stop in Prince George early Wednesday morning to pick up passengers, and will return at 9:00 the same night.

The official opening of this port has been classed by many as being as significant as the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

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Posted on Friday, September 07, 2007 03:59 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: spanky on September 7 2007 10:06 AM

Wow! Three cranes! How many do Everett, Seattle and tacoma have combined? I would guess 60-75. A mega project in Prince rupert.

Posted by: red2b on September 7 2007 11:47 AM

Spanky- what's your point? Rupert should have had more cranes? By northern BC standards this was a mega project.

Posted by: dgdiggler on September 7 2007 1:32 PM

Well now. The longer this container port is open and running, the longer Prince George is waiting to get their container terminal built and operating, thus loosing money. What's the holdup? Get Cracking!

Posted by: Palopu on September 7 2007 8:43 PM

Comparing the Prince Rupert Container Terminal to the St Lawerance Seaway is a bit of an overstatement. Much like calling the proposed development at 5th and Quebec a **Metropolis**. People should settle down a look at the facts.

The first phase of the Rupert Terminal will originate approx 250,000 40ft Containers per year. Using the big Panamex Container Ships this volume can be handled by 40 ships per year, or one ship every 9 days. These containers can be moved by approx 1.5 trains per day loaded to the US Midwest, and then we would have approx 1.5 Trains per day going back to Prince Rupert with loaded and empty containers.

If these trains come through Prince George from Prince Rupert during the night then all 250,000 will be moved into the USA without anyone in Prince George seeing them unless they stand by the track all night. If they come through during the day, then at best they will sit in Prince George for 2 hours and then go East. One train a day passing through Prince George can hardly be construed as a **big deal**. We had more trains moving when they hauled coal from Tumbler Ridge.

The trains coming back from the East will pick up any loaded containers in Prince George and take them to Prince Rupert, and that will be the end of that. Nothing too extra ordinary.

The people who will benefit the most from this Project will be Prince Rupert, as they will have something like 200 to 300 jobs created. Ie; Customs, Long Shoreman, Railway Workers, etc; This town has been on hard times for a longtime so its a good news story for them.

As far as Prince George goes I dont see any significant increase in jobs overall.

The saga of the Container Loading Facility, the Airport Expansion, etc; etc; remind me of the fable **The King has no clothes**. No one in this town will stand up and go on record to state that there will be very little job creations out of these endeavours. We would rather carry on with the hype. Why is that?

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on September 7 2007 10:29 PM

Anyone know how much the trip on the 12th would cost? I'd REALLY like to do that trip! Just my idea of fun.

Paloupo don't be so sad, PG will get some spin off economic activity. PG is still the biggest city in Northern BC and our city will benefit. A successful Prince Rupert adds to the stability of PG as the economic and industrial power center in the north.

Posted by: Palopu on September 8 2007 8:08 PM

You could be right Yama, we will just have to wait and see.

I understand that 1400 invitations were mailed out for this party. All the high rollers, from CN Rail, Port of Prince Rupert, Maher Terminals, David Emerson, Kevin Falcon Prov Minister of Transportation. Maybe Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Other dignataries along the Rail Route from Prince Rupert to at least Edmonton and maybe beyond.

Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel and the Edmonton Economic Development Corp have chartered a plane and will be stopping in Prince George to pick up Prince George Mayor Colin Kinsley in order to attend this historic event.

I doubt if they will have room for you on the Plane Yama, at any cost, however check it out with the Mayor, who knows??