They’re throwing a party!

The grand opening of the Fairview Container Port is only a few days away and with over 1400 invitations made, there should be a who’s who of shipping, transportation and politics gathering on the docks of Fairview.

There are a number of festivities planned for the day, which will get underway at five pm on Wednesday, There will be no direct vehicle access to the terminal but free shuttles will be running from the Jim Ciccone Civic Centre. Parking will also be available at the Fairview cemetery. The grand opening marks the one and only time that the Terminal will be open to the general public.

The Daily News rattled off the invitee list in the Friday paper, all preparing to head for Rupert on September 12 to see the construction of phase one of the ambitious project come to a most anticipated completion.


WORLD SET TO CALL ON RUPERT FOR PORT'S GRAND OPENING
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, September 07, 2007
Pages one and three

With some 1,400 invitations in the mail and a massive community celebration in the works, representatives from across the northwestern corridor and beyond will be in Prince Rupert to witness the ribbon-cutting for the Fairview Container Terminal.

Dignitaries scheduled to attend Wednesday include senior Maher Terminal executives, M. Brian Maher, chairman and CEO of Maher Terminals among them. Maher is the largest container-handling company on the East Coast of North America and the port's new terminal partner.

Top-level executives from CN Rail and CN Rail's customers have been confirmed, as have David Emerson, federal Minister of International Trade and the Pacific Gateway, and Kevin Falcon, the provincial Minister of Transportation. Both Emerson and Falcon spent weeks overseas promoting the terminal as a new trade route between Asia and North America.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has not yet confirmed his attendance at the opening of Canada's newest international gateway, however the Prime Minister is not in the habit of announcing his plans in advance due to security concerns.

Don Krusel, president and CEO of the Prince Rupert Port Authority, said the list of those invited truly represents the army of people who have supported the project during the past decade.
"In reality, the opening ceremonies is a way to thank all of those many individuals and groups that participated in making the Fairview Container Terminal a reality," said Krusel.

"Our invitation list exceeded 1,400 people. That is an indication of just how large of an army we had working to build this dream into a reality."

The list also reflects those communities that stand to build stronger economies through the opening of the new trade corridor.

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

In addition to investing in the new Fairview Terminal, CN Rail is also building new container-stuffing facilities in both of those northern cities to handle the volume generated by the container-handling terminal.

"This is something that Prince George and Prince Rupert have been working on for over a decade," said Kinsley.

"Everybody recognizing the port was underutilized and containerization was the goal, everybody recognizing that it would open up an entirely new and the most efficient trade route between Asia and North America," said Kinsley.

Not only will the new port provide the opportunity to move goods inbound but it will also provide northern communities like Prince George with the opportunity to manufacture new products to send overseas at a competitive backhaul rate.

Northern B.C. is rich not only in its timber supply, but in its mineral supply, said Kinsley, opening a world of opportunity. Products made from pine beetle wood are already being shipped in containers through the Port of Vancouver, he said.

Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond said that now is a time residents have been anticipating for a long while.

"This is fantastic. This is something so many people have worked so hard and so long on. Although the board and staff at the port have been the lead, there have just been an army of people working on this from the premier and prime minister's office to local government officials, CN and Maher," said Pond.

"It has been an all-encompassing effort and to see phase one celebrated is very exciting."
See next week's Daily News for details of the community celebration of the opening event.

One step closer to operational status

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The word spread quickly through the city shortly after 7 pm, the long awaited arrival of the three container terminal cranes was taking place in Prince Rupert harbour.

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Some real tangible proof that the containerization of Fairview Terminal is almost complete. With a warm and sun filled evening, many took advantage of numerous viewing points to watch Prince Rupert history arrive.

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Quickly it seemed that the west side of the city filled up with cars as people travelled along the lower waterfront area towards Moresby Park, up along Graham Avenue and the down along the BC Ferry Terminal area for a view of the towering cranes aboard their delivery ship.

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Channel 10 covered the arrival on CityWest cable with a fixed camera and the progress could be followed on line at the Port of Prince Rupert's webcam.

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The cranes which are now safely tied to the Fairview dock overnight, will begin the process of moving ashore over the next nine days. Rupertites can follow the progress daily on the web cam site.

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Above left a picture of the cranes arrival taken from Graham Avenue, while on the right, the vantage point from ground level at the BC Ferries terminal.

Federal government looks to Plecas for dispute resolution

The dispute between the Coast Tsmishian First Nation and the Port will get a helping hand shortly.

The Federal government appointed a long time B. C. civil servant to try and help the two sides work out an arrangement to put the current problems behind them.

Robert Plecas, who has been a deputy minister for 25 provincial ministers over the years, was appointed as a special representative to assist the Federal government in their discussions on the issue.

The Vancouver Sun had further details on the appointment and where the controversy stands after last weeks events in federal court.

Rupert port dispute gets help
Marke Andrews
Vancouver Sun
Saturday, June 02, 2007

FIRST NATIONS - The federal government Friday appointed a veteran B.C. civil servant to assist in a dispute between the Coast Tsimshian First Nation and the Prince Rupert Port Authority over the current expansion of the Prince Rupert port.

Robert Plecas, who has served as deputy minister for 25 provincial ministers in 10 portfolios, was appointed Friday as a special representative to assist the federal government in discussions with first nations and the Prince Rupert Port Authority over the Fairview Container Terminal project, which is nearing the end of construction. The appointment was made jointly by Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon, Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice and International Trade Minister David Emerson.

The appointment came two days after Judge Francois Lemieux issued a 22-page decision which granted a 30-day extension to the Coast Tsimshian to file a judicial review application against an October 2005 decision limiting the scope of consultations.

The Coast Tsimshian First Nation has threatened to stop the October opening of the new container terminal, believing its members were not properly consulted and compensated. Chief councillor Harold Leighton of the Metlakatla Band claims the development sits in the middle of the band's traditional territory. In an April statement, he said, "We will not allow Phase 1 to commence operations unless our concerns have been addressed."

Phase 1 construction of the terminal, which will give it capacity to handle up to 500,000 cargo containers annually, is now 80-per-cent complete, and the port expects the expanded facility to receive its first containers in late September or early October.

Despite recent developments, Barry Bartlett, the port's manager of communications and public affairs, said progress is "steady as she goes ... at this stage it's speculation, and we're very optimistic this won't delay [the opening]."

Last September, the Coast Tsimshian bands' attempt to seek a Federal Court injunction against the Ministry of Transportation to stop approval of the port was rejected.

According to the port's website, the port and the federal government consulted with the Coast Tsimshian for 18 months, and on Feb. 28, 2006, made a $7.65-million offer of accommodation -- which included aboriginal job training and aboriginal economic development -- to which, Bartlett said, the Tsimshian have not responded.

Leighton did not return a call seeking comment for this story.