It wasn’t that long ago the pink slips were being issued and many wondered who would be the last one on site to turn out the lights. But, a few years later and it’s apparently a world of difference out at Ridley Terminals.
From the darkest days of the last of the coal shipments to the plans to come, it’s a change of 180 degrees of direction out on Ridley Island. With a coal boom from the north east, to the completion of the sulphur terminal to new industrial options for the Terminal things seem brighter than they have been in years for the folks at RTI. There’s even the promise that new jobs opportunities are just around the corner, possibly as soon as this fall.
The picture being painted these days is certainly a far more optimistic view of the industrial base than what we are used to hearing of late. Welcome news for Podunkians who have weathered the storms of the past and still see some choppy water ahead.
We check out (in Podunkicized form) that other side of the rainbow by checking into last week’s Daily News and a front page story on the positive vibes coming from the other side of Mount Hays!
RIDLEY BOSSES HAVE EYES ON THE HORIZON
BY LEANNE RITCHIE
THE DAILY NEWS
THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 2005
PAGES ONE AND TWO
When it comes to building the future of Ridley Terminals, its management team says it is playing a long term game that involves shipping a variety of products.
Greg Slocombe, the company’s president and Chief Operating Officer, took time out from a busy week – that included visits from Chinese, Indian and South African delegations – to speak to the Chamber of Commerce yesterday about the Crown Corporation’s plans for the future.
“We are not really trying to maximize short-term return to our company. That’s not really our focus at all, said Slocombe.
“We are building a business that … will put us in play for the long term.”
The current boom in the coal markets, driven by increased demand from Asia, won’t last forever, said Slocombe.
Canada is in second place world-wide as a coal producer, only out-paced by Australia. But Australia is currently operating at capacity, he said.
“They have more coal in the ground and they can get it out of the ground but they can’t ship it. Their rail lines are operating at capacity, their ports are at capacity.” He said.
“We have a stellar opportunity in Northeast B. C. to move coal.”
Ridley Terminals – recently freed from an order in cabinet preventing the company from signing new long term contracts, as well as the threat of a federal sale of the Crown Corporation – has been taking advantage of that boom.
The company hopes to be operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week by the end of the year and plans to employ 16 new people this fall.
“We will be profitable this year and we will be even more profitable next year,” he said.
But the company’s management team understands the boom won’t last forever – Australia is currently building new shipping capacity that will increase the world-wide supply – and so they are focused on working with those companies they believe will operate in the long term.
“We will see as supply starts to catch up to demand (in two or three years). The big guys do not want to see supply go beyond demand because at that point prices go straight down,” he said. “So they aren’t going to let that happen. That’s what happened last time. We will see a rationalization in the industry.”
The advantage of Northeast mines, beyond having a premium product, is one of transportation. They are about 300 kilometres closer to Ridley Terminals than Southeastern mines are to Vancouver.
“There’s a very good chance Northeast properties are the ones which will succeed in the long term.” He said.
Beyond surviving the ups and downs of the coal markets, Ridley Terminals is also ensuring its future by diversifying the products it handles.
The terminal’s business tanked several years ago when the coal markets crashed and Slocombe said they won’t let the terminal be put in that position again.
“We were 100 per cent reliant a few years ago and that just about cost us the business,” he said.
He said Ridley is on the verge of moving forward with its sulphur plant. The company anticipates sulphur will be flowing through the facility by the last quarter of 2007.
They are currently waiting for plans to be approved before they can be signed.
“It (shipping) is that far off because it takes time to complete the facility.”
He also said Ridley will be moving wood pellets through the facility this year.
“You will see the construction of a wood pellet facility this summer at RTI. I can say that’s about a done deal,” he said.
He also anticipates petroleum coke; one of the products that kept the terminal operating when coal stopped altogether, will play a role in the facility’s future.
Petroleum coke is a by-product of the oil industry, he said, and there are plans by companies in Edmonton to increase their output of this product.
This is despite the face there are no storage facilities for petroleum coke in that city.
“What they will do is put right into rail cars and ship it right to us,” he said. “It’s a very interesting piece of business for us.”
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