With Screening Decision in hand, VOPAK Terminals reaches next step of development with Virtual Open House planned in November and Environmental Assessment underway

An artists drawing of what the VOPAK Pacific Bulk Fuels Storage and
Shipment Terminal on Ridley Island may look like if the proposed project
goes ahead. It currently is in the midst of its Environmental Assessment

The Dutch energy and resource shipping giant VOPAK is ready to move on to the next stage of its planning for a bulk liquids tank storage and marine terminal facility for Ridley Island, with plans now in place for a Virtual Open House in November.

VOPAK moved forward with its plans following receipt of a Screening Decision letter from the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office in October,

You can review the full correspondence to the Dutch Company here.

Of note from the letter, the recent consultation and engagement that Vopak has conducted with Indigenous Nations.

The VOPAK project would store and ship land-locked Canadian resources such as methanol, diesel and propane to global markets through a terminal on Ridley Island. 

The proposed Prince Rupert terminal location is  expected to store Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Clean Petroleum Products (CPP) (i.e. diesel and/or gasoline) and methanol. 

All products will be transported from BC and Alberta to the Project via the existing Canadian National Railway line. 

Customers of Vopak will be responsible for bringing the product to site and for shipping the product from the jetty to markets around the world. 

As part of their introduction to their proposal, VOPAK noted the following elements of their plans for  the 900 million capital project for Prince Rupert.

As part of this next phase of the VOPAK environmental Assessment process a 45 day period for comments will take place starting on November 10th and continuing through until Christmas Day, December 25th.

To participate in the comment opportunity you can take one of the follow options:

By online form: VOPAK project

By email: projects@rupertport.com

By Mail:

Jack Smith
Director, Environmental Planning and Compliance
Prince Rupert Port Authority
200-215 Cow Bay Road
Prince Rupert, BC V8J 1Z2

or to the BC EAO directly

Gareth Stuart
Project  Assessment Director
Environmental Assessment Office
PO Box 9426 Station Prov Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9V1

Residents of the North Coast can also view the Application and documentation at the Prince Rupert Port Authority's Port Interpretive Centre, located in the Atlin Terminal at 215 Cow Bay Road.

Towards the Community engagement, Two Virtual Open Houses have been scheduled for Tuesday November 24 and Thursday, November 26 with both events to take place online from 5:30 to 7:30 PM

The links to both events can be found below:

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Those with an interest in the VOPAK proposal can review the BC EAO information page here. 

As well, VOPAK has its own information page related to the proposed terminal development which you can review here.

The Port of Prince Rupert also has some background for review on the project, which you can access here.

For more notes on the path so far towards development of the bulk liquids storage and marine export facility see our archive page here.