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| Ribbon cutting scissors for everyone! It was a long line assembled to officially cut the ribbon to celebrate the Expansion of the Fairview Terminal |
The Port of Prince Rupert, DP World and CN threw a party on Tuesday and residents of Prince Rupert and the surrounding area turned out to share in the good news and to perhaps dream a little bit about what may yet be to come.
The tone of the majority of the speeches from Tuesday's Grand Opening of the Fairview Terminal expansion highlighted the significant step forward that Prince Rupert has made in securing its place as a Global shipping hub.
In a ceremony held just before the noon hour, dignitary after dignitary who had assembled from near and far paid tribute to the local work force and their importance in building the reputation of the facility, while also taking note as to how the word of how reliable Prince Rupert continues to spread around the world.
Tuesday's mid day celebration saw the ribbon cut and the applause ring out as the terminal project completion was officially celebrated in front of the strong delegation of visitors made up from the terminals various transportation partners.
Joining in on the days events were politicians from all levels and members of the community who flocked to the west side terminal to take advantage of the chance to explore the finished project.
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| DP World Group Chairman and CEO, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, hailed the expansion and offered up a theme of growth for the future |
DP World Group Chairman and CEO, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, outlined how the global terminal operator views the Prince Rupert footprint in world trade and offered up an interesting comparison between the North Coast port and the global port operator's home base.
"Prince Rupert is like Dubai ... a place where dreams become reality"
He also indicated the commitment that DP World has made to both Canada and Prince Rupert.
“The expanded container terminal is an economic engine for the city of Prince Rupert and is directly responsible for hundreds of jobs with many others in the local community and beyond benefiting from its operations. We are delighted to mark this occasion today which signals our commitment to Canada and the local community. This is all part of our plans to provide capacity to meet Canada’s Pacific container terminal capacity requirements for decades to come in a cost-effective and environmentally responsible manner.”
In a video presentation that was part of the Port's information flow of Tuesday, the DP World Chair also noted the significance of the volume that Prince Rupert can now handle:
"We just expanded from 750,000 containers to 1.3, the minute you are able to handle over a million in a location and maintain that for a while, that means you have managed to convince people of the viability of the location and there's only one way to go and that's upwards"
The task of providing the overview of where Prince Rupert fits into the global trade system fell to DP World Canada General Manager Maksim Mihic, he took note of many of the advantages that Prince Rupert has to offer and how the work of the local partners has spurred production and delivered impressive growth numbers over the last two years.
“Prince Rupert’s success has been driven by its unparalleled geographical position on the trans-Pacific trade route, its high terminal productivity, and its consistently low dwell times that have sustained despite our significant growth in throughput over the past two years, .. “However, as global trade has grown, so have container vessels. In order to meet the needs of our customers and capitalize on other opportunities, we needed an upgrade. Thankfully, our strong relationships with our expansion project partners, ILWU, the Port of Prince Rupert and CN Rail have resulted in an impressive transformation that will provide reliable and competitive service for our customers.”
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| Prince Rupert Port President and CEO Don Krusel heralded the role of both the provincial and federal governments as key to the success that has been delivered by Fairview Terminal to this point |
Prince Rupert Port Authority President and Chair Don Krusel, who just over ten years ago first put forward the vision of making Prince Rupert a global player in the world of shipping hailed the strengths and partnerships found both between Federal and Provincial partners, as well as the commitment and cooperation among the communities on the North Coast that have been instrumental in the success of the terminal so far.
“We continue to build on our strengths, and ensure that as we grow as a Port we will maintain the velocity and fluidity that got us here,” said Krusel. “This project is a significant addition to Canada’s trade infrastructure, and provides tremendous value to our shippers and many partners. It has become a major contributor to the regional economy, and could not have been realized without collaboration and support of industry, labour, government, First Nations and our local communities.”
First Nations leaders in the region also touched on the growing ties between the Port, it's partners and their communities, expressing a desire to build on those relationships
"We're very pleased with how the container terminal has helped the area grow and benefited Lax Kw'alaams and its members. DP World and the Port have enjoyed a great 10 years of success - and it has also been ours, in terms of enhanced business, training and employment opportunities. We look forward to building on this relationship." - John Helin, Mayor of Lax Kw'alaams
"The success of Fairview Terminal in the last 10 years has made a significant impact by creating direct and indirect jobs that have allowed our members to remain in the region. As Phase II opens, we congratulate all involved and look forward to continuing to work with DP World and the Prince Rupert Port Authority to create more opportunity for our members and all people on the North Coast." - Harold Leighton, Chief Councillor of Metlakatla
Federal and provincial politicians also had positive reviews for what Prince Rupert has achieved to this point, making note of the employment created across Northern British Columbia as the terminal becomes a major gateway to the world for Canada.
The local political view came from the trio of representatives at the municipal, provincial and federal level, Prince Rupert Mayor Lee Brain shared some thoughts on Tuesday's celebration through his Facebook page.
NDP MP Nathan Cullen also offered up a short comment through his Facebook page, while MLA Jennifer Rice hailed the expansion with an update to her constituency website.
An open house followed the official opening, with a steady flow of visitors exploring the terminal facility through the afternoon, taking in the range of activities lined up for the public, as well as to explore some of the displays to get a better understanding of port operations.
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| Rupertites took advantage of a fleet of shuttle buses to travel to and from Fairview Terminal on Tuesday for the Expansion project grand opening |
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| Visitors to the Fairview site on Tuesday had an opportunity to learn about the range of activities that make the Port work |
With the expanded facility now in operation and receiving and shipping containers, Prince Rupert now vaults to the position of being able to service the second largest volume of shipments in Canada, trailing only Vancouver's container facilities at Deltaport as among the dominant ports in the nation.
DP World and the Port however already has their eyes fixed on the future and even more volume for Fairview, with plans already under consideration for the much larger expansion to the south.
That expansion, if it moves towards development, would change not only the waterfront footprint for the port, but deliver a significant investment and create a large volume of jobs for the entire region.
You can review some of the background to the Fairview Expansion from our blog item from yesterday, which outlined some of the work required to bring the terminal capacity up to the anticipated annual volume of 1.3 million containers for the years ahead.
The three largest investors in the project, DP World, Canadian National and the Prince Rupert Port Authority all offered up news releases to highlight the day's events:
DP World Prince Rupert Announces Completion of Fairview Container Terminal Phase 2 North expansion
CN: Port of Prince Rupert container terminal a model of supply chain collaboration and a true success story
Port of Prince Rupert completes Fairview Terminal expansion
The Grand Opening for the Fairview expansion was newsworthy far beyond the waterfront in Prince Rupert, with the story generating regional, provincial and national headlines.
Port of Prince Rupert unveils expanded terminal, CN's 'strategic gem'
Prince Rupert terminal expansion leads to job growth (video)
Fairview celebration (video)
Port expansion and rural economic development (audio)
Dubai's DP World completes phase 2 North expansion of Canada terminal
Phase 2 of the Fairview container Terminal opens
DP World wagers $200 million on Prince Rupert as global logistics hub
Terminal expansion at Port of Prince Rupert lauded as economic generator
Big Day for Port of Prince Rupert as container facility doubles capacity
Fairview Phase 2 North open for business
'A Hail Mary pass': How the Port of Prince Rupert became a player in the world of global trade
Prince Rupert set for Celebration
More background on Fairview Terminal can be found on our archive page here, background information and items of interest related to the Port of Prince Rupert can be reviewed here.
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