Potential for 6-7 million TEU's with Port's Master planning for Prince Rupert waterfront

More expansion is part of the Master Plan for the Port of Prince Rupert
as it looks to increase its footprint in global container shipments

Imagine if you will, the prospect of container terminal throughput that would deliver close to six times as much container traffic as passes through the Fairview Container terminal today.

That is the vision for the long term that the Port of Prince Rupert is exploring as they outline some of the findings from the completion of a container terminal Master Plan.

Currently the annual throughput for Fairview is around the 1.35 million TEU level, with an expansion underway to increase that level to 1.8 million by 2022.

That however would make for but a blip in shipments compared to the long term plan to develop capacity for 6 to 7 million TEU's., a shift in focus that would place Prince Rupert in some pretty elite company when it comes to global shipping.

The forecast for the future, should the port's planning come to fruition, would have a game changing kind of impact on the North Coast, particularly for Prince Rupert, Port Edward and the First Nation communities around the region.

Providing for economic growth and employment to levels that would be at significantly higher than that which is found today.

In an information release today, the Port noted that the plan’s research was completed with the assistance of AECOM, a global leader in infrastructure planning and development.

As part of the overview, the report's authors considered capital costs, operating efficiencies, optimization of construction sequencing to minimize disruptions to ongoing operations, and mitigation of human receptor impacts (air quality, noise and lighting) as criteria to determine the feasibility and sequencing of container terminal potential at the Port of Prince Rupert.

 “Conducting this work ensures we have a clear understanding of the future potential for terminal development and contributes to a vision for the future of our container business to respond to the growing market demand for capacity at the Port of Prince Rupert. 

The terminal development potential identified in the study ensures that we can accommodate the short, medium and long term supply chain needs of Canadian exporters while continuing to provide the unparalleled reach, reliability and speed shippers have come to expect at the Port of Prince Rupert.” -- Shaun Stevenson, President and CEO of the Prince Rupert Port Authority.

The master planning concluded the potential for further expansion of Fairview Terminal and the development of a second container terminal at the Port of Prince Rupert’s South Kaien Island site.

This second terminal features a capacity of 2.5 million TEUs and was identified as the next phase of terminal expansion for the container business at the Port of Prince Rupert following the expansion of Fairview Container Terminal announced with DP World in 2018, increasing its current capacity from 1.35 million TEUs to 1.8 million TEUs by 2022.

The Port will be gazing south along Kaien Island as they outline the focus
for an ambitious expansion plan that could see container operations that
ship 7 million TEU's per year into and out of Prince Rupert

Both the current Fairview Terminal and South Kaien sites are in close proximity to expanding export logistics operations on Ridley Island, and will fully integrate with these operations following PRPA’s construction of the Fairview-Ridley Connector Corridor scheduled for the end of 2020.

The Port's two key partners of CN Rail and DP World have offered their support towards the Port's ongoing strategy to continue to develop Prince Rupert as a key gateway between Asia and North America.

As they work towards the ongoing expansion plans for the Port's container operations, it's anticipated that Prince Rupert will become the nations second largest port sometime over the course of the next five years.

The Port's information statement related to today's announcement can be found here.

For more items of note related to the Port of Prince Rupert see our archive page here.

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