Prince George’s inland port to create fifty full time jobs to start

CN is bullish on Prince George, a 20 million dollar investment in the first avenue container yard, is expected create 50 full time jobs to start, and with more on the horizon as the container yard becomes fully utilized.

That development and an outline of CN’s plans for Northern BC were presented to a Prince George Chamber of Commerce luncheon today. At the luncheon, CN Rail's General Manager of the Mountain Division, Tom Bourgonje, shared the details of the major change to come to the Prince George economy.

In his address, Bourgonje expanded on the plans for Prince George with some 2200 feet of track to be added to the Prince George rail facility, with the designation of #98 and #99, the latter apparently dubbed the Gretzky line. The tracks will service one extra train each way, each day to start servicing the Prince Rupert container port and points east and south of Prince George.

It’s expected that the crews assigned to the container yard in Prince George will handle 60 to 70 containers a day from the downtown yard.

Opinion 250 had a full story on the latest developments in Prince George including a review of spending from CN thus far as they prepare to link their transportation network through the US and Canada all the way to the Pacific ocean.

Inland container Port on track
Opinion 250 News
Wednesday, May 16, 2007

CN Rail's General Manager of the Mountain Division, Tom Bourgonje, says the inland container port to be built at the First Avenue rail yards in Prince George will create 50 full time jobs.

That project is costing CN $20 million dollars and Bourgonje says it will be ready in time "Basically we're right on track. We've started doing all the building modifications we have to do to our buildings in the yard and we have a design that is done, we have a design in place, and we have the contracts going out and everything wil be done by our deadline of October first."

Two track lines, 2200 feet long are being added to the First Avenue yard, and that will enable the crews to handle 60 - 70 containers a day. Initially it will see one extra train each way . The train's have already been given numbers #99 ( dubbed the Gretzky) and #98.

"We are about to see a geographical shift in North America's transportation. We are going to make Prince George the centre of the world, and it is going to become a major North American corridor, there is just no doubt about it."

In his luncheon address to the Prince George Chamber of Commerce, Bourgonje praised all who worked on landing the inland intermodal port "Everyone here has done an excellent job in proving the business case to locate the inland port in Prince George, this is an incredible opportunity not only for Prince George, but for all the communities around it."

While he says the completed facility will employ 50 people, Bourgonje says that could grow " That could of course expand as things ramp up and customers see how it works, there could be an increase in demand. Right now we are focusing on the east-west corridor and Chicago and Memphis."

Bourgonje says CN is spending $1.6 billion dollars in 2007 on capital and infrastructure.
Here are some of the dollars being spent:

-- ordered 50 new locomotives,
-- purchased 1100 new platform cars ( that could be increased to 3300)
-- $350 million on the Prince Rupert Port, with terminal, tracks, new tunnels, extra sidings, and extensions to sidings between Winnipeg and Prince Rupert.
-- $20 million on Prince George container port

Bourgonje is aware customers and communities are very concerned about safety. "Simply put, it is in our best business interest to our customers, our employes and our communities to operate a safe and efficient railway."

"In 2005 we had a rash of incidents which we are not very proud of, but we developed a foucs safety action plan and we live to it to a T" Bourgonje says following that plan helped the railway reduce accidents in 2006 by 50%. "We are going to continue to be super, super focused on safety."

Bourgonje wrapped up his address saying "CN is very proud to be in your community, and we are very proud of our employees in your community."

Prince George making moves to capitalize on Fairview port

Earlier this week we mentioned plans afoot in Prince George to make use of land surrounding the airport in that city, with a desire to set up Light Industrial development and take advantage of the soon to be operating (well once the dust settles on local north coast issues we guess) Fairview container port.

The Prince George Citizen posted a story to its website today that shows that those plans are certainly moving ahead. A massive light industrial development consisting of 900 hectares is in the planning stages, with hopes to be developed in time as those first containers load onto a CN train for desitinations east.

It will no doubt provide a spark to the Prince George economy, providing jobs and tax revenues for that city.

Considering the recent concern over the few tax generating industries in Prince Rupert, perhaps we could take a page out of the Prince George planning book. That city’s government and local business community are certainly finding ways to make the best out of the port located some eight hours away!

Surely our local government and business interests can soon find ways to capitalize on the port that is certainly much closer in geography. We keep hearing the talk that the jobs are coming, but more than a few of them seem to be getting directed eight hours inland.

Credit Prince George with the foresight, vision and ability to get the job done, it seems that they are quite a bit ahead of the curve when it comes to making the best of the potential of the Fairview port.

Airport project planned
MARK NIELSEN
Citizen staff
(News) Saturday, 28 April 2007, 06:00 PST

A massive light industrial development is in the works for land west of the Prince George Airport.

Henry Rempel, a businessman based in New Westminster who owns apartment buildings and townhouses in Prince George, is heading an effort to assemble 900 hectares in the area and has hired L&M Engineering of Prince George to guide the venture over the bureaucratic hurdles.
The idea is to provide locations for the business spinoffs expected to emerge once the Prince Rupert container terminal, the airport runway extension and the CN Rail transload operation and intermodal rail terminal are completed.

The venture will provide a major boost to the city's economy if it goes ahead, said Prince George Chamber of Commerce president Garth Frizzell, particularly combined with the three other projects.

"People have to see (Prince George) as a credible centre of transportation if they're going to start locating businesses here and this will add another piece to the puzzle," he said. "A pretty central piece, too."

Initiatives Prince George president Gerry Offet said it will provide a 10-to-20 year supply of "very-high-quality" light-industrial land.

"This is planning for the future and I think it's good to see a private source is going through the expense of getting the land ready for development (as opposed to the city)," Offet said.

The venture will also have a significant impact on the city's transportation network. Plans drafted by L&M Engineering call for extending Boundary Road in the Danson industrial area across the Fraser River so Highway 97 South is connected with Highway 16 West and trucks carrying dangerous goods can bypass the city.

Heather Oland, a planner at L&M, said the first phase of development will likely occur northwest of the airport, near where the airport has plans for additional hangars, and consist of aviation and logistics-related businesses.

However, some major steps need to be completed first, beginning with winning approval from the Agricultural Land Commission for an application to exclude about 550 hectares of Crown land currently designated agricultural.

Advertising and notification of neighbouring landowners began today and the application will be submitted to city hall by as early as May 7 -- all the land is within city boundaries. City council will then have 90 days to makes its views known to the ALC's three-member north panel, which will make a final decision.

Getting the land out of the ALR should not be an issue, Oland said, because it's of marginal agricultural value and there has been a net gain of agricultural land in B.C. over the years, particularly in the North.

Agriculture and Lands Minister and Prince George North MLA Pat Bell said it would not be appropriate for him to comment on the specific application because the ALC is a quasi-judicial body at arm's-length from the government. However, he said the ALC has had a history of allowing exclusions for marginal land.

It was about this time last year that city council turned down a request to make a "community-based" application to the ALC in part because a study commissioned by Initiatives Prince George on regional container market opportunities had not yet been completed and CN Rail's plans for the First Avenue yard were not clear.

That study has since been completed and CN Rail announced last month it will spend $20 million on an intermodal yard at the First Avenue yard, centred on an 84,000-square-foot warehouse with 10 acres of outside storage.

The aim is to have it ready by this fall to coincide with completion of the first phase of the container terminal at the Port of Prince Rupert.

Work on the airport runway extension, which would make it long enough to handle large cargo jets, was supposed to have started this month but will be delayed by as much as a year because federal bureaucrats decided a consultant should review the project's feasibility.

The 900 hectares will increase the amount of industrial land within city limits by about 50 per cent, but it's light industrial land, Oland stressed.

"It's clean type of industry, so it's not something that would be impacting the airshed," she said.
Rempel declined to comment, saying he preferred to let L&M do the talking for him.

Fairview Port becoming an economic engine, for Prince George

While much is made of the impact of the container port on Prince Rupert’s speculative residential real estate market, 8 hours east it seems is where some of the real and tangible action is taking place.

Industrial lands around the Prince George airport are being snapped up, flipped and sold again at a record clip as developers there realize that Prince George may become a major shipment point fed by the Prince Rupert port.

CN has already announced plans for an inland container port for the city and the Prince George Airport Authority is making its plans to capitalize on those daily container trains roaring out of Rupert for points east.

The Airport has already announced plans to spend 33 million dollars in order to increase the length of its runway from 7400 feet to 11,400 feet which will allow it to receive the largest of cargo and passenger aircraft.

With that expansion, industrial park development and the jobs that go with it are now on the front burner in Prince George, which has 318.5 acres ready to be developed around the airport which is expected to bring in some 60 million dollars in private investment development. All part of the city’s plan to become the freight movement hub for northern BC.

The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business has an in depth look at how regional airports around the province are starting to re-invent themselves to take advantage of opportunities that are arriving now or on the horizon.

The portion of that report dealing with the plans of Prince George is provided below:

"Meanwhile, the Prince George Airport Authority is spending $33-million to extend its main runway to 11,400 feet, from 7,400, to accommodate large passenger and cargo jets.
Prince George, which has 318.5 acres available for development, anticipates attracting up to $60-million in private investment with the runway expansion, scheduled to be completed in 2009.

Most of the available land within five kilometres of the airport has changed hands in the past year, added airport authority chairman Jim Blake, a sign of the interest that the airport authority's plans are stimulating in commercial development circles.

Mr. Blake said Canadian National Railway Co.'s plans for a $20-million transload facility in Prince George with an 84,000-square-foot warehouse and 10 acres of outside storage also bodes well for development opportunities at and around the airport. While CN's facility will focus on natural resources exports, he said it could help the Prince George airport achieve its goal of becoming an air freight hub for imported goods, too.

"Goods can be shipped through Rupert and then come to Prince George and then be dispersed by air to various locations so that the major retailers aren't holding on to inventory," he explained. "That's looking a little further down the road, but it's certainly a very distinct possibility."

Prince George has surely found a potential niche for itself with the containerization of the Fairview port, with those trains loading their containers on site and leaving on the main line, the normal business of a container port is about to see a major shift.

Normally, container ports feature a huge holding area in the port city that they service creating a number of direct jobs and secondary jobs in that location, that may not necessarily be the case here. While we will benefit from the direct jobs at Fairview itself, those secondary jobs that the ports in Vancouver, Delta and Halifax on the east coast generate won’t necessarily be found here.

With the trains loading up on almost a just in time delivery schedule, many of those jobs of storing, moving, stuffing and redirecting the containers will be found somewhere else, whether it be Edmonton, Chicago or Memphis. At least credit Prince George for acting fast and taking the steps to try and make sure that they are one of those locations, if even on in a smaller scale.

They have seen the transportation changes coming and are actively courting those developers that will take advantage of the port in Prince Rupert, providing jobs and opportunities for Prince George.

Hopefully, Prince Rupert residents will soon hear some plans about potential industrial development here. An indication from local officials, as to how we may be able to share in the expected win fall of jobs that seem to be on the horizon in other locations.

CN to spend 20 million dollars on Prince George container yard

CN rail issued a press release on Friday outlining its plans for an intermodal yard to be built in Prince George, designed to service the Port of Prince Rupert's Fairview Container terminal.
The yard will feature an 84,000 square-foot warehouse, as well as 10 acres of outside storage, it is expected to open in fall 2007. The release goes on to describe how the yard will operate in the scheme of things regarding container traffic.

"It will load containers with products arriving at the facility by rail or truck. The loaded containers will then be lifted onto railway flatcars at CN's new adjacent intermodal rail yard, and daily service will be offered from this terminal to the Port of Prince Rupert."

The Opinion 250 website positioned the inland container Port to be at the First Avenue rail yard.

It's expected that the Prince George operation will be a central terminal for the Highway 16 and 5 corridors, loading empty containers bound for Asia with lumber, panels, wood pulp and paper, as well as ores, plastics and some metals products.

Updated at 6:42 pm with information from the Opinion 250 website.

All tracks lead to Prince George

They’re practicing their southern drawls in Prince George as the plans continue to turn the interior BC city into the Huntsville of the North. At least that seems to be the ideas being bounced around over the last few weeks.

The potential of Prince Rupert’s Container Port has them thinking big in Prince George and using Huntsville as the template for success could turn the city into a major transportation hub.

The inland port of Huntsville, Alabama has turned around that city’s economy quite a bit over the years, accounting for jobs for over 7,500 employees and revenues of over 700 million dollars a year. With statistics like that it’s no wonder they’re anxious to get their infrastructure in place quickly to make sure that they’re first in line to benefit from the boom in commerce soon to arrive on the shores of the North Coast.

The Daily News filled in some of the blanks over the plan with a front page story on Prince George’s hopes in Wednesday’s edition.

PG HOPES IT’S ON TRACK FOR MASSIVE PORT-RELATED YARD
Report suggests Prince George has huge potential
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Wednesday, November 9, 2006
Pages one and three

Call it the Huntsville, Alabama of the North.

According to a new report, Prince George has a massive opportunity to build an intermodal container facility that would capitalize on backhaul to Prince Rupert’s container port. The facility would employ air, truck and rail transport in the same vein as Huntsville’s inland port – a once faded southern belle that now employs more than 7,500 people at the facility and generates $700 million plus a year.

“There’s a major economic opportunity … for two reasons,” said Kathy Scouten, Initiatives Prince George. “First, there’s a trade imbalance meaning there’s more trade volumes coming in to West Coast ports than going out and there’s a need to find stuff to put in the containers on their way back to Asia.

“The second reason is that West Coast capacity constraints have created a real opportunity through Prince Rupert.”

A major competitive advantage for any port is to find ways to take advantage of backhaul, and that requires an intermodal facility in Northern B. C., she said.

For Prince George, part of their product is already close at hand as major forestry producers would be able to send their goods overseas on the cheap. The Northern B. C. Container Terminal Opportunity Study notes 790,068 mfbm (thousand board feet) of lumber could be sent to Japan, 108,428 mfbm of lumber could go to other East Asian countries, 262,107 tonnes of pulp could enter Japanese markets and another 589,784 tonnes could go to China. This would provide a capacity of 60,000 container loads of B. C. forest products alone, or three times the number of containers usually required for an intermodal facility to be economically viable.

“This study clearly identifies the competitive advantage of establishing an intermodal cargo centre in Prince George, and what opportunities that would bring for Northern British Columbia,” said Colin Kinsley, Prince George Mayor. “We often thought what role we will play with increased traffic that will come to North America through Prince Rupert.”

“There are opportunities… and the timing couldn’t be better in my view with the situation existing with the mountain pine beetle epidemic. There will be new products that will find a new home in Asia.”

The report highlights a number of strategic advantages for an intermodal facility in Northern B. C.- others have been proposed for Grande Prairie and Edmonton – including the fact that the city is located within a half day drive of forest product producers that supply enough cargo to fill minimum operating requirements; it is centrally located to support construction of the Kitimat-Alberta pipeline, which will require the importation of significant quantities of equipment and material; Prince George has the closest major rail yard to the new Prince Rupert container terminal; and the capacity to handle transpacific shipments.

The study found that the development of a rail and road intermodal facility in Prince George would support economic development in the region not only by providing incremental transportation related jobs, but also by ensuring that manufacturing businesses had access to containers, and had a cost-competitive, high service transportation option for exports to Asia and other international markets. Employment estimates indicate that the proposed facility could support up to 750 jobs in the region, which would represent 358 full-time equivalent positions. Around 75 to 100 new jobs would be created within the Prince George area specifically, with as many as 340 new jobs spread through the region.

According to the report, the economic impact would generate $44.2 million in direct, indirect and induced wages, $35 million in GDP and $84 million in output.