Training camp set to start for dock workers

With the first container ship set for arrival at Fairview Terminal on October 31st, the 300 plus long shore workers will soon begin a training program over the next two weeks, to provide them with the necessary skills to handle the vast number of containers due to land in Prince Rupert.

Tuesday’s Daily news provided some background on how the workforce was assembled and what may be ahead for the members of Local 505.

LONGSHOREMEN FIND THEIR FEET AT FAIRVIEW TERMINAL

By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Pages one and three

Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 505 will begin training at the Fairview Container Terminal site over the next two weeks, said Mark Schepp, assistant vice president of terminal operations for Maher Terminals.

Speaking at a Prince Rupert and District Chamber of Commerce luncheon last week, Schepp said one of the biggest challenges of the opening the new facility is getting people trained and qualified on Maher's equipment. This includes reach stackers, tractors and cranes.

"We have started a training program down in Vancouver with members from the local union up here, but now we are going to start to train our folks up here and get some more seat time in the cranes."

Schepp said people might not realize just how much work has gone in to assembling the workforce for the Fairview Container Terminal.

Last April, Schepp asked to attend a union meeting and there were only 28 people there. It was at that point Maher realized it needed to pull partners together and come up with a plan.

"We had all of these good ingredients - we have this great facility, the support of this community, we have CN on board, the Prince Rupert Port Authority on board, but there was something missing, the people who run the port," he said.

Working with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 505 and the B.C. Maritime Employers Association, Maher put together a training program for longshoremen.
In the past, longshoremen on the North Coast have handled break bulk or logs, he said. Now some of them need to learn new skills to work with the new equipment and containers.

Last Tuesday, Schepp decided it would be good to address the union members again before the terminal's grand opening.

"Lo and behold last Tuesday night, we walked in to Fishermen's Hall and there were 300 plus people. It's pretty amazing. We can't say enough about Glen Edwards and the union here helping us through that process," he said.

Schepp is also optimistic that Maher's partners - CN Rail and the sipping lines - will be able to take advantage of Canada's abundance of natural resources and fill the empty containers heading back to Asia.

"One of the things we have often talked about is what opportunities are there in Canada," he said.

"We are a little behind some other countries."

Canada has lagged in its growth in exports to China over the last four years, showing only 17 per cent growth, while Japan has seen 73 per cent growth, Australia 58 per cent and the United States 52 per cent, he said.

However, CN has been making investments in stuffing facilities in Edmonton and Prince George to capture products to be sent back oversees.

And with the Chinese $1.7 trillion economy expected to grow by eight or nine per cent per year, the demand for natural resources will be there.

"Moving empties is not what it is about," he said.