Slow and steady the path towards Port Phase II development

“I know the community is very anxious and maybe impatient about when that switch will happen, when the big announcement is coming. I don’t think we are going to see one big announcement, I think there are going to be a lot of announcements coming gradually…We’re at a level where, with what people know about Prince Rupert, there is going to be a series of progressive announcements improving our port.”-- Port of Prince Rupert President and CEO Don Krusel, outlining his view of the path towards Phase Two development of the Fairview Container Port

The Port of Prince Rupert still sees Phase II expansion on its horizon, though in a speech to the Prince Rupert Rotary Club last week, Port President and CEO Don Krusel seems to have lowered the anticipation of a sudden boom town situation when it comes to Port expansion.

On Thursday The Northern View provided a review of Mr. Krusel's speech to Rotary, outlining how in his view the prospect of Phase II development in this current economic climate could see Phase II take place in segments, a Phase A and Phase B approach to development of Prince Rupert's most anticipated industrial development.

The 650 million dollar price tag for the expansion appears to be the key issue for development and with the American economy still mired in recession like times and world trade at the moment slowing down because of the world economy, investment in such a large undertaking may be harder to achieve than in more prosperous times.

While he issued the cautionary tone on expectations, he did reinforce the idea that phase two development is needed, with the Port at capacity as we head into 2011, the port is at the point where expansion is needed, but it will slow and gradual expansion moving forward.

Welcome news no doubt for city residents, but it now appears that the timetable of anticipation will have to be revisited for those hoping for a sudden reversal in the region's fortunes tied in with Port development.

The Port CEO also touched on a few other issues of importance to Port development, he outlined that the current discussions with the Coast Tsimshian could bring an agreement in place by the end of the year.

On the business side of the ports operations, Krusel said that the Port of Prince Rupert is on track for revenues projected to be near $17 million with 14 million tonnes being handled by years end. A statistic that now has shippers phoning the Port seeking to send their product through the Port of Prince Rupert. 

The success of Phase One has also gained notice within the shipping industry's officials along the Pacific coast, where ports in the US now factor in Prince Rupert's success into their strategic planning.

And those ports make note of Prince Rupert with good reason, for the Port of Prince Rupert to increase its throughput into the future, it will be through competition with those ports for shipping lines and the movement of product through the Northern Gateway that market share will move the numbers upwards into the future.

You can read the full Northern View article from their website here.

Will the Port's phase two plans end up as only an illusion?

The Public Relations and Investment departments at the Port of Prince Rupert may soon find that the work load increases, that as a recent article in the Globe and Mail offers up the contrary opinion that Phase Two development may not be as sure a thing as all in Prince Rupert may wish to believe.

The article printed in the Globe and posted on their website on Friday, outlines some concerns over how the Port will be able to push ahead with development plans, especially in light of a declining economic situation and considering the current under capacity usage of the existing terminal at Fairview.

Patrick Brethour, who examined the Ports reported figures as part of his research for his article calls into question some of the interpretations of the numbers by the Port and offers up some stark assessments of his own on the immediate future for the port and perhaps how those factors may change the ambitious expansion plans for the future.

Brethour offers up his interpretation of the decline in traffic through all west coast ports, pointing out that at a 48 percent decline in the first quarter, the Port of Prince Rupert has suffered the steepest decline of all ports on the coast from Vancouver to Los Angeles.

It's the mos recent shipping values that seem to have raised the most alarm bells for the Globe writer, who suggests that despite the spin put on the recent statistics from the port, the overall situation isn't particularly happy.

Officials from the Port quoted in the article continue with the more positive timeline of the expansion project, looking forward to 2014 and beyond as their horizon, not the current levels of shipping, or any reversal of shipping fortunes brought on by the recession of late.

Brethour suggests that the trumpeting of the expansion plans will continue on, as will the environmental assessments and financing quests. His question though seems to be one of how the Port will hope to find success in their plans for expansion, if their current platform of phase one is currently running at nowhere near the expected capacity.

Add on to that the ongoing and future planned expansion of Vancouver's Deltaport complex and one wonders just how much of this available transportation grid will actually be needed in the future.

It will be interesting to note how the Port of Prince Rupert interprets and responds to the less than positive observations, information that the article provides to a national and international audience.

The article might also be of interest to a couple of guys who recently toured the local facility, as both Premier Campbell and candidate Herb Pond used the Port and its potential development as a background to the current election campaign. Both have made much of the potential of the port to create jobs with the subsequent expansion, about the only economic planning that they seem to have provided for in the current campaign.

If Mr. Brethour's article is an indication of the climate of the shipping world and of the mood of potential investors, the delivery of those much anticipated jobs may be a little further away than even they optimisitically might see.