Container Port operations exceeding expectations

With the second container ship to call on Prince Rupert already unloading its cargo, the stakeholders in the Fairview Container Port are quite satisfied with the state of the operation thus far.

James Foote, vice-president of sales and marketing for CN Rail shared his impressions with an American Transportation forum in New York recently, outlining the successful launch of the new service that will bring Asian goods into North America and North American goods to the Far east through the Port of Prince Rupert.

The Daily News featured his thoughts and an overview of the port's operation thus far as the front page story in Wednesday's paper.

EARLY DAYS, BUT PORT ALREADY DELIVERING ON ITS POTENTIAL

By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Pages one and three

With the first load of goods through Fairview Terminal already on the ground in Chicago and the second ship at Fairview Terminal in the process of unloading, CN Rail officials say the new trade corridor is operating effectively.

"The trains and product are already on the ground in Chicago without any issue," said James Foote, vice-president of sales and marketing for CN Rail.

"The service performed even better than we expected."

Foote was speaking to analysts at the Citigroup Transportation Conference in New York.

He said the system is working well even without CN having made any of its planned further investments to improve the fluidity of the rail networks in sidings or the Memphis Terminal.
The second vessel to stop at Fairview Terminal, the Hanjin London, arrived at the new container port at 11 a.m. yesterday.

Vessels are moving COSCO goods to the terminal to be offloaded once each week.

"We are very pleased to be aligned with COSCO as a partner to get this business up and running," said Foote.

The first ship to dock at Fairview Terminal, the COSCO Antwerp, arrived last Tuesday evening.
A 9,000-foot-long train carried 360 containers to Chicago after they were taken off the Antwerp.

The containers that are picked up by CN are filled with a variety of merchandise for large eastern retailers, and they originated in the Chinese ports of Hong Kong, Yantian, Qingdao, Dalian and Xiamen as well as Yokohama, Japan.

As well as dropping off containers, the Antwerp picked up 600 containers brought into Prince Rupert by CN Rail, many of them full of paper products from eastern North America.
The route is part of the CKYH Alliance's Pacific Northwest Butterfly South Loop service, of which COSCO is one of four participating shipping lines.

In all, a string of nine vessels, each with a capacity of 2,700 containers, will combine to provide weekly service to Prince Rupert.

Meanwhile, the province and federal government yesterday signed a federal provincial agreement under the Building Canada Plan to further strength road and port infrastructure.

It will provide the province with $2.2 billion over seven years to invest in roads, bridges, tunnels, ports, public transit and more, including the Pacific Gateway initiative, which is key to ensuring that B.C. and Canada benefit from burgeoning economic activity in the Asia-Pacific region.

British Columbia is the first province to sign on to the new national infrastructure plan, which provides more funding than any previous federal infrastructure initiative, over a longer period of time, to restore and upgrade Canada's transportation assets.

"British Columbia will now be assured predictable funding to restore and upgrade infrastructure systems," said Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"Building Canada is about investing in our country's future. It's about a stronger economy, a cleaner environment and more prosperous communities."

The Government of Canada is investing $33 billion nationally in infrastructure projects.
Premier Gordon Campbell said the funds will help grow the British Columbia economy.

"These funds will be used on a cost-sharing basis to support provincial infrastructure priorities, including transportation; tourism; public transit; green energy; and waste and water systems."

In addition to funding for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, this could mean an opportunity for Prince Rupert to get funding to implement secondary sewer treatment. Currently, the city disposes its untreated waste in the ocean.