Province finds urgency in containerization plans

The Province of British Columbia sees the future in containerization and wants to make sure that the province is set to take full advantage of what is set to come across the Ocean.

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The Vancouver Sun featured details on Gordon Campbell’s call to make sure that this opportunity doesn’t pass the province by.

All of which should bode very well for the expansion plans for the Fairview Container Terminal and the long term prospects for Prince Rupert.

Container capacity will trail demand, premier says
Growth in Asia-North America container traffic is likely to rise 300% over 15 years, he says
Fiona Anderson
Vancouver Sun
Thursday, June 21, 2007

Container traffic from Asia to North America is expected to grow 300 per cent in the next 15 years and there isn't the capacity to handle it, Premier Gordon Campbell told a fundraising dinner Tuesday night.

"You take all the potential growth for Los Angeles-Long Beach, which is a substantially larger port than Vancouver, all the potential growth for [Seattle and Tacoma], all the potential growth for the Port of Vancouver, all the potential growth for the Port of Prince Rupert, and we don't have enough space, we don't have enough logistics, we don't have enough capacity to deal with that 300-per-cent increase," Campbell said.

So the West Coast ports should work together to establish common environmental and reliability standards rather than compete against each other, Campbell suggested, to ensure that the increased container traffic comes to the west.

"If we don't do that we're going to watch as that economic opportunity transfers to the Atlantic coast," Campbell said.

"Opening the Asia Pacific Gateway means investing, working together, thinking differently and acting now," Campbell added.

And that means "a massive investment in the transportation infrastructure in British Columbia," the premier said.

Vancouver Port Authority vice-president and CFO Tom Winkler said there was no immediate concern that the port would not be able to handle the demand for container shipments.
The port expects to handle 2.4 million TEUs in 2007, a term that measures different-sized containers in twenty-foot equivalents. The port has the capacity to handle those containers, Winkler said.

By 2020, Vancouver is expecting six million TEUs and Prince Rupert, which is opening its first container terminal in the fall, will add another one to two million containers, Winkler said.

To ensure the smooth movement of those containers, the port has been working with both the federal and provincial governments, as well as local municipalities, to build the necessary infrastructure "not just for goods but for people as well," Winkler said.

"We don't see any immediate concerns and the long-term issues we are trying to deal with through proper planning and development," Winkler said.

"I think [Campbell's] urgency is the business is coming. This is an opportunity and if you wait the opportunity will pass you by," he added.