The Financial Post is still bullish on the Fairview Container Port, in an article published online today, the business section of the National Post advises that the Port of Prince Rupert is about to announce the addition of two new vessels to call on Prince Rupert this summer. The first of the new vessels will make their first port call in June or July.
This will come as a welcome sign for the community which has seen the promised throughput from the Rupert port turn a little sluggish over the last few months and not reach the original benchmarks that had been laid out for it upon its opening.
Part of the problem has been a slowdown of the American economy and the reduction in shipments to North America because of it, at the moment the port off loads 22 containers an hour, though the gross weekly volume has been under performing from the original expectations.
The port is designed to be able to handle 9,600 standard-sized containers a week, but so far has averaged only 1100 a week, with that number increasing to 1,800 since April, still well below full operations.
That situation it is hoped will change as other shipping lines learn more about the advantages of the North coast port and begin to move their containers from the Northwest as opposed to the Lower Mainland or USA.
The Financial Post article provides an interesting look at the status of the port so far and how it is being received world wide...
Prince Rupert terminal starting to make waves
Nathan VanderKlippe,
Financial Post
Published: Wednesday, May 21, 2008
VANCOUVER -- Billed as the "St. Lawrence of the West," the Port of Prince Rupert has spent the months since its grand opening last November dramatically under-performing expectations.
Its cranes are capable of off-loading 9,600 standard-sized containers a week. Until April, the sole shipping line that uses the port's new container terminal delivered just 1,100 a week. In the past month, that number has risen to 1,800 weekly, still less than a fifth of capacity.
But the faltering start, which comes largely thanks to a sluggish U.S. economy that has decreased container traffic to the entire Pacific coast by about 5%, could soon come to an end. Maher Terminals, the New Jersey-based operator of the Prince Rupert's Fairview container terminal, plans to triple the number of ships calling at the northern port beginning in a month or so. Currently, only one ship a week calls there.
"There's two new ships coming in June or July," said Odd Eidsvik, a board member with the port.
It's unclear whether the new ships will come from Cosco Container Lines or Hanjin Shipping Co., the shippers whose vessels currently sail to the port, or other members of the CKYH Alliance, which includes K-Line and Yang Ming Line.
But the boost in scheduled service lends weight to arguments from the port, railroads and shippers, who all say the $170-million Fairview Terminal weathered its first winter in remarkably good form, despite the low volumes.
"The terminal operation at Maher is just beyond our expectation," Canadian National Railway Corp. chief financial officer Claude Mongeau said on a conference call Wednesday. "Everything is humming from an operations standpoint."
Ships have arrived and departed on schedule and, despite having relatively inexperienced crews, the new terminal has off-loaded containers at the rate of 22 an hour, "which is really quite impressive and very competitive for North America," said port spokesman Barry Bartlett.
"To be totally frank we're not going to be at the 500,000 [annual 20-foot container throughput] capacity as quickly as we thought we were, but it is getting there," he said. "Because this is a brand new business model, it goes against the grain. We don't have a local market. We're way up north. The jury was out to see if the service was going to work."
Many do still remain unconvinced. Take K-Line, for example. Its containers float into Prince Rupert's harbour aboard Cosco ships, then float out again to be delivered to more southern ports.
"It takes a little doing to convince American importers that [Prince Rupert] is a viable alternative and will be able to service their needs," said K-Line's Vancouver general sales manager Quentin Newman, who said existing contracts with competing rail lines also make it difficult for him to ship through the northern port.
One operational element that has been strong, however, is outbound traffic through Prince Rupert.
"Many of our resource commodity exporters in Canada would like to ship more out of Prince Rupert, but we can't," because of ship weight restrictions, said Dave Bedwell, executive vice-president of Cosco Canada.
Northern B.C. exporters, who had hoped Prince Rupert would provide cheap backhaul shipping to Asia, have faced other problems. Virtually all backhaul containers have been filled in Alberta and the U.S. Midwest, leaving almost nothing for would-be exporters in small B.C. towns. Even CN's own Prince George container-stuffing facility, built specifically for Prince Rupert, has almost exclusively packed goods for export out of Vancouver.
"The container terminal itself has had challenges getting itself set up to be really useful for us out of central B.C.," said Ian McIver, general manager of the global supply chain for lumber producer Canfor Corp.
Still, few are pessimistic about Prince Rupert's future prospects. The port itself is pushing ahead with expansion plans that would quadruple its capacity, Canfor's Mr. McIver said he expects to ship through it as containers become available, and even Mr. Newman said it's only a matter of time before K-Line comes to call.
"It's a fabulous terminal," he said. "It's not necessarily a question of if - but when - we will go through there with some cargo."
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With a file from Scott Deveau
With a file from Scott Deveau
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