Western port has growing status as international port
By Malcolm McColl
Prince Rupert has a long history of coming to be a great port and almost getting there. In the early 1900s, speculation ran that Prince Rupert would rival Vancouver as a key port until the railroad tycoon behind it, Charles M. Hays, went down with the Titanic. The situation has changed with the passing of a century. Now it matters that Prince Rupert is 1,800 km closer to Shanghai than Los Angeles is.
Port of Prince Rupert
"Prince Rupert is situated on the shortest land-sea link between central North America and Asia," said Barry Barlett of the Prince Rupert Port Authority, "and, with the deepest natural harbour in North America, is poised to become a leading trade gateway between those markets." The port is undergoing construction of phase one – a $170 million pure intermodal container port to handle 500,000 TEUs (20-ft equivalent units) annually, operational in fall 2007. Phase two will expand the container port to 2.0 million TEUs by 2010.
Prince Rupert’s rank according to 2004 throughputs in TEUs (equals container load units):
• Vancouver..................1,539,058
• Seattle.........................1,775,858
• Portland.........................274,609
• Los Angeles................7,321,440
• Prince Rupert 2007........500,000
• Prince Rupert 2010.....2,000,000.
The little city has Prince Rupert Grain and Ridley Terminals Island coal facilities, which recently inked a long-term deal with Western Canadian Coal. Ten million tonnes of grain and coal are sent from Ridley Island to markets worldwide. A Liquified Natural Gas facility is proposed for the island industrial park in 2011.
Minister Colin Hansen and Prince Rupert Port Authority CEO Don Krusel, discuss opportunities for future development, and enhancing the growth of the regional economy. (Nov. 2005)
Canadian Border Services Agency will fill new positions in Prince Rupert. The port of Prince Rupert has a growing status as an international port of entry and this creates CBSA career opportunities, immimently. Derek Collins is in charge of recruiting for Prince Rupert, "We are gearing up to expand CBSA operations for Sept. 2007. We are recruiting June through October to identify candidates to send to our college, the CBSA Learning Centre in Quebec, which provides initial training. We give another few months of infield training."
The training emphasizes all aspects of maritime security inspection, and there is obviously a strong marine side to the Prince Rupert border detail. "We run comprehesive marine operations with sophisticated detection equipment." The CBSA employee becomes trained to keep inadmissible goods and people from entering Canada, protect Canada from illegal drugs and firearms, contribute to a safe food supply, and to the protection of our environment, enhance Canada's social and economic growth.
Collins is responsible for development of Prince Rupert operations. "We currently have nine employees and are expanding to 20 - 30 immediately." The jobs are being promoted as career opportunities with starting salaries at $51,000, public services jobs. Collins said all applications are being received online. They hope to attract a work force that represents the diversity in the local population and are recruiting accordingly across many communities and First Nations. Visit www.cbsa.gc.ca/careers for more information.
Duncan Wilson, Port of Vancouver public relations, said, "We are an agent of the federal government, a run-for-profit entity that earns its own revenue to create expansion." Port of Vancouver is big. "Our containers alone were 1.7 million TEUs (equivalent of one 20 m container) last year. By 2020 we’ll reach 5.3 million TEUs. One of the challenges is that we are popular and must make more efficient use of land-side infrastructure."
To meet part of the challenge Port of Vancouver is working with Tsawassen First Nation to expand the land base around Delta, B.C. The port authority is overall, "building facilities and making existing facilities more efficient. Our Asian partners are telling us we’re not expanding fast enough." Port of Vancouver operates or leases facilities to 25 different terminal operators, with container terminals like Deltaport, CenTerm, and VanTERM, undergoing various stages of expansion.
ILWU Canada has a couple thousand members on the west coast, largely concentrated in Vancouver, and including membership in Bella Bella, Kitimat, and of course Prince Rupert. Bob Ashton said longshoremen have faced a huge shift in the way ports operate, turning into facilities that handle containerized units. The change sent most of the Prince Rupert local elsewhere until the first phase of construction is complete.
In Vancouver the projected increase of containers will quadruple by 2020. Right now they have 1,300 ILWU members working in Vancouver and 1,000 casual. Because of facility growth the Vancouver local has absorbed members cut loose from Prince Rupert. The interesting fact about longshoreman history on the west coast is the First Nation membership. It is huge. Chief Dan George was a longshoreman. Ashton said, "Throughout the whole ILWU we have tremendous membership from First Nations." Chances are it stands to get bigger because of all the expansions underway.
Up an arm of the Fraser River, North Fraser Port Aurthority operates Port North Fraser. Valerie Jones, Vice President, Operations and Corporate Secretary, said, "This is a working river." Since its inception in 1913, the Port has served as a major transportation route for British Columbia’s forest industry and fishing, aggregate and steel processing operations. Port North Fraser is a shallow draft, tidal influenced waterway that serves as a transportation highway for tugs and barges and as a log storage warehouse for the forest industry. 43% of all coastal and domestic maritime shipments move through the North Arm of the Fraser River.
Jones said that on average 17 million metric tonnes of cargo move through Port North Fraser annually, more than 7,500 barge movements. "The port’s strength is a central location and direct access to the Strait of Georgia, and big city/national infrastructure. This all means a critical need to dredge," she said. "Prior to July 1999, dredging of the Fraser River was done by the Canadian Coast Guard. Under the Canada Marine Act, this expense was downloaded unto Canada’s port authorities." The Port will be dredging high spots in the navigation channel in the fall of 2006.
Diane Hewlett works for the Port of Kitimat as Econonic Development and Facilities Manager, and she holds that the City of Kitimat is about to reach new heights as a community with opportunities on the north coast. Kitimat LNG will open new facilities in 2009, working in close accord with the Haisla people on the land side of their operations. She said, "Another exciting proposal is coming from the Kitimaat Port Development Society. They received funding from various sources to the tune of $750,000 to study feasibility of a Break Bulk Port."
These facilities can ship anything in bulk quantity, lumber to coal. Hewlett said the city is working closing with Chief Councilor Steve Wilson of the Haisla Nation. The bulk port facilities would actually be privately owned, like all Kitimat port facilities, and the Haisla owners would be shipping to all points on the globe through their bulk port.
Kitimat lies beside the pristine waters of the north coast and they have a slogan that matches the scenery, Marvel of Nature and Industry. Hewlett noted that people who live here, like the Haisla, long to stay here. Jobs and great new opportunties will make that happen. "Alcan, one of the big industrial players on the north coast of BC, has finally turned its attention to First Nation issues. Hewlett said, "Alcan has become very supportive of Haisla activity, ever since signing of a protocol agreement a few year ago."