The Port of Prince Rupert disconnected from the continent by high water along CN Rail lines, has been busy putting out the message that the current disruption to the transportation grid is a bit of an “anomaly for the port to be disrupted by weather.”
The port says that early June is rather slow period on the waterfront, so the timing of the trouble up river isn’t as dire for shipping as it could have been.
Anomalies was the theme from Western Canadian coal as well, which ships all of its Northeast coal out of Ridley Island, company officials told the Vancouver Sun that they were making plans to play catch up on shipments once the rail line is re-opened, calling the flood a once in a thousand year event.
The Canadian Wheat Board said that they had enough grain in Prince Rupert at the moment for the next two shipments, the first of which is not due until next week and that they will monitor the situation as it develops to see whether they need to divert shipments elsewhere while the rail line is under water.
The Vancouver Sun contacted all of the major stakeholders in the port for updates on their status and the plans for the near future.
Port carries on despite loss of railway and road service
Fiona Anderson
Vancouver Sun; with Reuters
Friday, June 08, 2007
PRINCE RUPERT - While residents in Terrace are fighting off floods, the Port of Prince Rupert is optimistic it can survive flood-related train and road closures with minimal damage.
Canadian National Railway, which normally runs eight trains a day to Prince Rupert, put the brakes on its service Monday night after rising waters threatened the track. The flooding also shut down Highway 16, which connects Prince Rupert to Smithers in northwestern B.C.
But early June is a relatively slow time of the year for the port, which handled 7.7 million tonnes of cargo in 2006.
"We're fortunate it's happening at this time of year," said Barry Bartlett, manager of corporate communications and public affairs with the Prince Rupert Port Authority.
Right now, there's only one ship in the harbour waiting for a load, Bartlett said. At other times of the year there can be five or six.
Bartlett said "it's a bit of an anomaly" for the port to be disrupted by weather.
Western Canadian Coal Corp. ships all coal from its operations in northeastern B.C. through Prince Rupert. But the Vancouver company has been stockpiling on the docks, its vice-president of marketing, Paul Brent, said in an interview.
"And we don't anticipate any problems [from the rail shutdown]" Brent said.
The company is already in discussions with CN on how to "play catch-up after the fact," so it can rebuild its stockpiles once the trains are running again.
If the shutdown continues, it would contemplate rerouting shipments. "But we're talking a once-in-a-thousand-year event, which we'll deal with if it happens," Brent said.
And Brent figures the company has a few weeks yet before having to worry about that.
"These anomalies occur. They're a regular part of doing business in Canada," he said. "Severe winters, floods, drought, whatever it is, you have to build that into your plans," Brent said.
The Canadian Wheat Board, which ships as much as 1,500 train cars of grain to Prince Rupert each week, said it has enough grain for ships now waiting to be loaded and the next shipment isn't scheduled for at least a week.
The board will monitor the flooding to see whether it will need to divert grain to Vancouver, the board's manager of rail logistics, Mark Dyck, said.
"If we divert a whole pile of grain . . . we're going to congest in Vancouver, which we don't want to do either," he said. "We're going to watch this day by day and see how things go."
CN spokeswoman Kelli Svendsen said there was no schedule for getting the trains back on track. The water would have to recede, then the track would have to be inspected and repaired if necessary, Svendsen said.
"It would be dependent on a number of factors, including the weather, because it would have to also dry out," Svendsen said.
CN has been "exploring various options with [its] major shippers" about rerouting traffic to Vancouver, Svendsen said.
But she wouldn't say whether any shipments had been diverted.
fionaanderson@png.canwest.com
The port says that early June is rather slow period on the waterfront, so the timing of the trouble up river isn’t as dire for shipping as it could have been.
Anomalies was the theme from Western Canadian coal as well, which ships all of its Northeast coal out of Ridley Island, company officials told the Vancouver Sun that they were making plans to play catch up on shipments once the rail line is re-opened, calling the flood a once in a thousand year event.
The Canadian Wheat Board said that they had enough grain in Prince Rupert at the moment for the next two shipments, the first of which is not due until next week and that they will monitor the situation as it develops to see whether they need to divert shipments elsewhere while the rail line is under water.
The Vancouver Sun contacted all of the major stakeholders in the port for updates on their status and the plans for the near future.
Port carries on despite loss of railway and road service
Fiona Anderson
Vancouver Sun; with Reuters
Friday, June 08, 2007
PRINCE RUPERT - While residents in Terrace are fighting off floods, the Port of Prince Rupert is optimistic it can survive flood-related train and road closures with minimal damage.
Canadian National Railway, which normally runs eight trains a day to Prince Rupert, put the brakes on its service Monday night after rising waters threatened the track. The flooding also shut down Highway 16, which connects Prince Rupert to Smithers in northwestern B.C.
But early June is a relatively slow time of the year for the port, which handled 7.7 million tonnes of cargo in 2006.
"We're fortunate it's happening at this time of year," said Barry Bartlett, manager of corporate communications and public affairs with the Prince Rupert Port Authority.
Right now, there's only one ship in the harbour waiting for a load, Bartlett said. At other times of the year there can be five or six.
Bartlett said "it's a bit of an anomaly" for the port to be disrupted by weather.
Western Canadian Coal Corp. ships all coal from its operations in northeastern B.C. through Prince Rupert. But the Vancouver company has been stockpiling on the docks, its vice-president of marketing, Paul Brent, said in an interview.
"And we don't anticipate any problems [from the rail shutdown]" Brent said.
The company is already in discussions with CN on how to "play catch-up after the fact," so it can rebuild its stockpiles once the trains are running again.
If the shutdown continues, it would contemplate rerouting shipments. "But we're talking a once-in-a-thousand-year event, which we'll deal with if it happens," Brent said.
And Brent figures the company has a few weeks yet before having to worry about that.
"These anomalies occur. They're a regular part of doing business in Canada," he said. "Severe winters, floods, drought, whatever it is, you have to build that into your plans," Brent said.
The Canadian Wheat Board, which ships as much as 1,500 train cars of grain to Prince Rupert each week, said it has enough grain for ships now waiting to be loaded and the next shipment isn't scheduled for at least a week.
The board will monitor the flooding to see whether it will need to divert grain to Vancouver, the board's manager of rail logistics, Mark Dyck, said.
"If we divert a whole pile of grain . . . we're going to congest in Vancouver, which we don't want to do either," he said. "We're going to watch this day by day and see how things go."
CN spokeswoman Kelli Svendsen said there was no schedule for getting the trains back on track. The water would have to recede, then the track would have to be inspected and repaired if necessary, Svendsen said.
"It would be dependent on a number of factors, including the weather, because it would have to also dry out," Svendsen said.
CN has been "exploring various options with [its] major shippers" about rerouting traffic to Vancouver, Svendsen said.
But she wouldn't say whether any shipments had been diverted.
fionaanderson@png.canwest.com
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