PRINCE RUPERT – The Port of Prince Rupert has recently announced an expansion project for containerized cargo on Ridley Island that will help crops from the Canadian agricultural industry reach international markets while expanding intermodal logistics capacities.
Ray-Mont Logistics is developing an integrated logistics and container loading operation at the south end of the Ridley Island Industrial Site on the recently-constructed Road, Rail and Utility Corridor.
The operation will involve pulses and cereals (such as lentils, peas, beans, soybeans, flax, and wheat) as well as other specialty agricultural crops transported in hopper cars by rail from Western and Central Canada and the US Midwest. The cargo will be transferred to ocean containers for export via the Fairview Container Terminal, which is currently undergoing expansion.
Operation of the completed facility will employ an estimated 40 people. The ten-acre facility will include a rail loop corridor in excess of 100 railcars, a grain dumper pit, and a state-of-the-art conveyance system.
The Ray-Mont facility will utilize rail tracks on the Ridley Island Corridor to take delivery of agricultural commodities and meet market demand for port-loaded export containers on the West Coast. Cargo will be sent to Prince Rupert by agricultural shippers in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and further inland, to be unloaded at the facility via a conveyor unloading system.
IDL Projects, on behalf of Coast Tsimshian Northern Contractor Alliance, will begin clearing the site this week and the new transloading facility will be operational in time for the 2017/18 crop year this fall.
Ray-Mont Logistics is the latest company to invest in logistics and transloading services at the Port of Prince Rupert, supporting its growing intermodal business. Fairview Container Terminal is currently being expanded to handle an increase in annual volumes from 850,000 TEUs to an anticipated 1.3 Million TEUs. The expansion is due for completion in August 2017.
