With the Fairview container port working towards its fall deadline, the flooding of the Skeena couldn’t have come at a worse time for the image of the port as a reliable destination for shipments.
The extraordinary flooding event and the set of circumstances surrounding rail access between Prince Rupert and Smithers, has caught the attention of those who have been cautious about accepting the container project as a primary destination for shipments.
Those concerns were outlined in a Globe and Mail report from Thursday.
Flooding disrupts key B.C. terminal
WENDY STUECK
June 7, 2007
VANCOUVER -- Severe flooding in British Columbia that knocked out the Canadian National Railway track to Prince Rupert has put coal and grain shipments to the port on hold, just as a new rail-linked container terminal in the city is being pitched as a faster, more efficient system for shuttling goods between Asia and North America.
The disruption underlines how one glitch can throw a wrench into a broader network, said George Stalk, who has written extensively on global transportation routes.
"It raises the spectre of just how sophisticated the infrastructure needs to be," said Mr. Stalk, a senior vice-president with Boston Consulting Group in Toronto.
The flooding is likely to be a factor in reviews and planning for the $170-million container terminal, Mr. Stalk said. The project, scheduled to open in October, recently landed its first Asian shipping line customer and is generating interest among exporters from Alaska to Mississippi.
"For the port, getting it up and running is first priority," Mr. Stalk said. "Getting it up and getting it to work through the 50-year-storm is a second priority. Now your 50-year storm is here and one can see the effect immediately - I think that will be the next level. If it's going to be more than an overflow port, it's going to have to have sophisticated infrastructure."
The container terminal is a joint venture between the Prince Rupert Port Authority, the federal and B.C. governments, CN and New Jersey-based operator Maher Terminals. Prince Rupert already has coal and grain handling facilities, but those operations have been disrupted by flooding.
"We didn't receive anything today and we don't anticipate anything prior to the weekend," said Greg Slocombe, president of Ridley Terminals, Prince Rupert's coal handling facility.
The facility has some coal stockpiled, but that store won't last long, Mr. Slocombe said.
The CN track between Smithers and Prince Rupert was closed at about 9 p.m. Monday, CN spokeswoman Kelli Svendsen said yesterday.
For Western Canadian Coal Corp., which runs two mines in northeastern B.C., the disruption means dwindling space to pile coal at its mine sites and shrinking piles of coal at the other end of the line in Prince Rupert - a scenario that adds up to a potentially costly situation.
"I'm in a bit of a panic," said vice-president of marketing Paul Brent, adding that the impact of the disruption could be minimal if it is short-lived. CN has told the company that service could resume by tomorrow, Mr. Brent said.
"If that's the case and if CN is able to muster sufficient rail assets to get things going quickly, then it shouldn't be problem," Mr. Brent said. "But if it were to go on for a week, we would be facing a significant problem."
If the line remains closed for that long, he said, Western Canadian Coal would be faced with ships coming into Prince Rupert expecting to be loaded up with coal and the company not having any to supply.
That would put the coal company on the hook for "demurrage" or anchorage costs as the ships waited for cargo, which could range from $8,000 to $27,000 per day, per ship, Mr. Brent said.
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