Faster, Bigger, for a waiting world

The push is on to expand the Fairview Container Port even before the first container is off loaded next fall. With talk of the Asian boom becoming the topic of conversation from cabinet tables to Tim Horton’s coffee tables, everybody is suddenly a maritime planner with theories and suggestions for the Port of Prince Rupert.

Add the North Coast’s MLA Gary Coons to the list of those who think things are progressing too slowly when it comes to port expansion. Last week at the Legislature, Coons made a five minute member’s statement expressing concerns over the whether the project is ambitious enough and how the speed of the project needs to be picked up a bit.” In his speech, Coons read from a BC stats report on the ports of British Columbia and how they may be missing the boat on expansion issues.

His comments and other comments about the Fairview Port were recorded in last Thursday’s Daily News.

MLA WANTS FASTER PORT PROGRESS
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Page one

The B. C. government is moving too slowly to take advantage of the full potential of British Columbia’s ports, says North Coast MLA Gary Coons.

“The opportunities are enormous, but do we have the political will to follow through on the many challenges that are preventing us from reaching our full potential,” said Coons, the NDP critic for ferries and ports. “(This includes) the land issue, especially with potential court injunctions,”

In a five minute member’s statement in the Legislature Monday morning, Coons said B. C. Statistics – an office of the Ministry of Labour and Citizen Services – expressed doubt about B. C.’s ability to take advantage of the burgeoning Asian economy. Coons quoted from a September B. C. Statistics report entitled “Will B. C. Miss the Boat on Port Expansion?

“There are concerns that this expansion is moving too slowly and may not be ambitious enough…” reads the report.

“Containerized cargo trade will continue to grow faster than the world economy. Global container growth has outpaced GDP growth by more than 300 percent in the past five years, and it’s predicted to maintain this in the future,” he said. “John Vickerman of TranSystems in Norfolk, Virginia, pointed out at the recent Change Brings Opportunity port conference in Prince Rupert about the North American freight paradox. The nation’s ports and their intermodal linkages are experiencing ‘the best of times and worst times’ in terms of growth and demands on capacity.

“By 2020, North American ports and the intermodal systems associated with them will be severely congested, basically because we do not have an intermodal system as such, Containerization is the future of the Northwest corridor and vital for B. C. and Canada. Are we up to the task, or is our B. C. Port strategy “wimpy?”



Coons was referring to management consultant George Stock’s comments in the Globe and Mail that criticized the small size of the Prince Rupert container project.

“Are we, as Stock said, reflecting a lack of foresight that could squander our chance in a containerization push by building a “rinky-dink terminal” versus one with more than double the capacity we’re building for?” the MLA asked. “Are we missing the five year window of opportunity to be that alternative destination by not taking a more aggressive strategy?”

For Coons, the answer is clearly ‘yes’, and he believes inaction is putting at risk B. C.’s ability to fully access the Asian economy.

“I believe the premier has been neglectful in his assertion that this is a federal matter and not a provincial concern,” he said. “There’s considerable opinion that the governments efforts have been weak. I again ask the premier to take a leadership role in ensuring immediate resolution to First Nations concerns about this vital project.”