Examining the possibilities

The Change Brings Opportunities conference wrapped up yesterday at the Lester Centre for the Arts and the two day festival of positive thinking has left a good number of participants quite optimistic for the future.

With hundreds of delegates from across North America in attendance, the potential of development of Prince Rupert and Northern BC was examined rather thoroughly with guest speakers and presentations designed to show the way forward.

The Daily News provided a recap of the gathering from the perspective of Day One of the event, looking at the tone of the conference and how people received the presentations, with an eye as to how they best can capitalize on the opportunity on the horizon. Also on page one was coverage of the keynote address to the conference by the provinces Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon.

OPTIMISM FLOWING AS PORT OPPORTUNITIES ARE MULLED
Conference draws hundreds of key thinkers to Rupert to debate prospects
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Thursday, November 9, 2006
Pages one and five

From Washington in the south, to Alaska in the north and Toronto in the east, more than 350 people gathered at the Lester Centre yesterday to talk about what the Prince Rupert container terminal can do for them.

The Change Brings Opportunities Conference is being held by Community Futures of the Pacific Northwest in order to get people talking about opportunities related to the construction of Canada’s newest gateway to Asia, which will open in October 2007.

It represents a shift in the conversation – people have gone from discussing the need to build the terminal to talking about how their communities can use it to build stronger economies, said Don Krusel, president and CEO of the Prince Rupert Port Authority.

“In Prince Rupert, Northern British Columbia and Northern Alberta, we have been talking about this project for years,” said Krusel. “We have been so focused on building the terminal, we haven’t had the time to step back and say “What does this really mean?”

While the container port represents an opportunity for Canada to increase its economy by capturing more of f the inbound trade from Asia, the real opportunity for economies along the northwestern trade corridor is building industries to fill those empty containers heading back to the Asian markets, he said.

“This container port is just a tool, it is no different than a paint brush,” said Krusel. “A paint brush can be used to paint a Rembrandt or a back yard fence. It’s up to the people of this region to take that tool and paint a Rembrandt.”

Krusel explained that containerization began in 1956 and it has revolutionized the transportation industry. Before container, cargo had to be man-handled and moved piece by piece – it was timely and result in shippers doing a milk run to drop goods in many ports up and down the coast of North America.

With containers, however, individual goods are loaded into metal boxes and the boxes themselves are moved. As a result, shippers now go to fewer ports – those ports than can efficiently handle the massive movement of goods.

“What has happened as a result of containerization is fewer and fewer ports are being visited,” said Krusel. “If you are not one of those ports where container vessels go you are going to lose out quite significantly.”

On the East Coast for example, not only did shipping traffic move from Brooklyn to New Jersey with the development of the container handling facilities back in the 1960’s, the factories that filled the containers also followed suit.

While the market impetus for building the terminal is the goods expected to flow in from Asia, representatives from Maher Terminals, which will operate the new port, confirmed they want to see those empty containers moving back to Asia filled with goods to maximize their return.

At least 50 per cent of the containers returning to Asia will be empty.

“When containers begin flowing through this port, the whole economy of this region will be linked up to the world,” said Krusel.

The conference lasted all day yesterday, including a gala dinner at the Highliner Inn, and will continue today with speakers discussing what products could be moved into this new market and how businesses and communities can get in on the ground floor.

The idea is that those containers could be filled with goods that are abundant in the region such as forest products, water, agricultural products and seafood.

“What the future holds, depends on how we use this tool,” said Krusel.


TRANSPORT MINISTER LOOKING AHEAD
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Thursday, November 9, 2006
Page one

As the Prince Rupert Port Authority turns its sights toward Phase Two of the container terminal expansion, so has the provincial government.

“One of the things that the Premier and this government believes in very strongly is that the initial $170 million Phase One is simply that. It’s the initial phase,” said Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon, at the Change Brings Opportunities Conference yesterday.

“We want to get the federal government fully committed to the next phase of the project.”

The first phase of development of the Prince Rupert container Terminal is well underway. The $170 million project is a partnership of Maher Terminals, the port, CN Rail, and the governments of B. C. and Canada. The infrastructure, which is critical piece of the province’s plan to increase the amount of trade it handles from Asia, will have the capacity to handle 500,000 TEU’s (average size containers) per year. It will open in October of 2007.

However, Phase 2 of the development, which will expand that capacity to close to two million TEU’s per year, is key to reaching the province’s goal of more than doubling B. C. container handling capacity.

“It (Phase two) will be probably $400 million and the ability for a million and half containers to go through the port. It’s very important from a capacity point of view,” said Falcon.

“There’s a lot of work we have to do but we really believe if we work with the local communities, the First Nations and the federal government and we are pushing in the same direction, we can make this happen.”

Some of the work that needs to happen includes a provincial contribution of land and ensuring proper consultation with First Nations so they share in the opportunity, he said. And most importantly, the province needs to ensure the federal government understands the importance of this infrastructure to all Canadians.

“The Federal Government has made an initial commitment of $591 million dollars to the Pacific Gateway. That is a wonderful start but it is only a start and we want them to continue looking at the big picture, the big opportunity and I believe they will,” said Falcon.
Falcon was the keynote speaker during the gala dinner at the Change Brings Opportunity Conference yesterday. During his speech, he said the support of the communities within the region for developing this transportation corridor has made a big difference in getting the federal government and other partners on board.

He said Premier Gordon Campbell sees the development of B. C into a Gateway to Asia is an investment that is just as important and transformational as the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway was to Canada back in the 1950’s.

Government contributed some $6.2 billion in today’s dollars to ensuring the trade gateway on the East Coast was successful and B. C. supported that because we knew it would ensure success for all Canadians, he said.

“Just as the St. Lawrence Seaway opened tremendous opportunity for the East Coast and Canada, so will the West Coast. I really believe the federal government will come to the table with more money.”