PRINCE RUPERT – Further plans are in the works at Canada’s third-largest port to provide additional capacity and increased resilience to strained supply chains
DP World, a global leader in logistics and provider of smart supply chain solutions, and the Prince Rupert Port Authority (PRPA) have announced updates to several critical infrastructure projects that will make Canada’s west coast more resilient to future supply chain challenges. Disruptions and congestion experienced during the past year in southern British Columbia and other west coast supply chains have accentuated the need for additional capacity in Prince Rupert.
Progress on the Fairview terminal expansion and related logistics projects are an important milestone in a long-term plan to add significant new capacity to the Prince Rupert Gateway and provide a viable alternative in the event of future disruptions.
Fairview Container Terminal capacity will increase to 1.6 million twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) this summer and 1.8 TEUs in 2024
The Phase 2B expansion of the Fairview Container Terminal is a response to the rapid growth in container traffic that Prince Rupert has achieved over the last five years. The first stage of the expansion is now 50 per cent complete and will be finished in July 2022, increasing capacity at the Fairview Container Terminal to 1.6 million TEUs, making it the second-largest container terminal in the country. The second stage of the expansion is set to be completed in late 2024 and will see the terminal’s capacity grow to 1.8 million TEUs. In addition to the hundreds of construction jobs created by the expansion, it will have a significant permanent economic impact on Prince Rupert, Indigenous communities, and the surrounding region. The Phase 2B expansion will ultimately result in 300 additional full-time equivalent (FTE) positions at DP World’s Fairview Container Terminal.
“The DP World Fairview Terminal already offers the fastest connection from Asia to North America, and this expansion of the Prince Rupert Gateway will provide the infrastructure necessary to meet increasing trade growth forecasts,” said Maksim Mihic, CEO and General Manager of DP World (Canada). “The Fairview Phase 2B expansion sets Prince Rupert firmly on the path to becoming a leading strategic Canadian logistics hub, custom-built for high-volume intermodal traffic.”
The new Fairview-Ridley Connector Corridor is on track to be completed in Q2 of 2022
When complete later this spring, the Fairview-Ridley Connector Corridor will reroute container trucks from local transload and customs facilities directly to Fairview Container Terminal. The road is an integral development for the Port of Prince Rupert’s intermodal eco-system. It improves existing container terminal truck and rail operations by easing traffic congestion, removing wear on provincial and municipal road infrastructure, lowering costs and drastically reducing greenhouse gas and local air emissions through the more efficient routing. Construction work has been contracted to a local First Nations joint venture, the Coast Tsimshian Northern Contractors Alliance, ensuring local construction employment opportunities in the region.
Advanced plans for a state-of-the-art export logistics facility
Industry has signalled the need for added transloading and warehousing facilities to the Prince Rupert Gateway, and there is an opportunity to increase Prince Rupert’s capacity to containerize and export many of Canada’s key commodities, such as grains, resins, pulp and lumber. To address this need, DP World, Ray-Mont Logistics, and the Prince Rupert Port Authority are in the advanced stages of developing a world-class logistics facility on Ridley Island for exports. The rail-serviced logistics centre will offer a unique combination of scale, speed and terminal integration that will become the new standard for export transload services on the west coast.
Import logistics facility to join integrated Prince Rupert logistics eco-system
The Metlakatla Development Corporation and the Prince Rupert Port Authority are also developing an import logistics facility on 34 acres near the Fairview Container Terminal. The South Kaien Import Logistics Facility, which will be integrated into the Prince Rupert Gateway’s innovative logistics hub, is a critical component of the Port Authority’s plan for even further growth by 2030 and another example of the value of collaboration for the economic prosperity for the entire region.
“The Prince Rupert Port Authority has worked with DP World and our many other partners to grow Prince Rupert into one of North America’s preferred maritime gateways and add more Canadian trade capacity to the west coast,” said Shaun Stevenson, President and CEO of the Prince Rupert Port Authority. “In addition to advancing these critical projects right now, we’ll soon be sharing even larger plans that build on the advantages of northern BC to make Canada’s future supply chains more competitive and resilient.”
New capacity at Fairview Container Terminal, as well as the addition of import and export transloading and warehousing, will result in a fully integrated intermodal system that will provide unparalleled speed, efficiency and competitiveness that benefits shippers, Canadian businesses and consumers. In addition to strengthening the economy of northern British Columbia, the projects will significantly increase Canada’s west coast container terminal capacity to support the growth and resilience of Canada’s supply chains and substantially scale up capacity for Canadian agricultural and forest product export sectors, improving their competitiveness.The container yard will expand from 32 to 41 hectares and two new rubber-tired gantry (RTG) cranes and an eighth dock gantry crane, which has already been added (2021).