Port officials to bring Prince Rupert Council up to speed on Operations and Development plans

The Prince Rupert Port Authority will make a presentation to
City Council tonight to provide civic officials with an update
on current and future plans for the Port

The current state of operations at the Prince Rupert Port Authority and some of their future plans will make for some interesting viewing at Prince Rupert City Council's final scheduled public session tonight.

The Agenda description is light on the focus for the Port, simply noting that port officials will be on hand at the start of the night to deliver their overview.

The interest should be high considering the impact that the Port has on the community, from employment to construction and even as has often been noted by Council, civic finances.

The current status of the volume of through put at the port's facilities notes of a significant slow down for the container port, which has had a large impact on employment and local spending.

The latest data to the end of October has the DP World Facility down close to three million tonnes in shipments from this time in 2022.

The slowdown at the Container Port made for a recent segment on CBC Radio's Daybreak North, where a Local 505 ILWU official outlined the scope of the impact on workers of that reduced throughput this year.

A story followed up on this morning, noting of the increased use of the local food bank as a result of those lost hours of work.

On a more positive review, Trigon and Prince Rupert Grain currently are the trend setters for the Prince Rupert waterfront, both terminals showing improved throughput for 2023 compared to last year.

Despite some of the challenges, planning for port expansion at the Container port and new developments such as REEF continue to move forward. 

The Port announcing last week of the progress for the joint venture project between Alta Gas and Vopak on Ridley Island.

Beyond the employment and industrial development, tonight also could bring a review of some of the community themes that the Port has taken leadership on.  

From funding of local organizations and their work to the larger projects such as the Seal Cove Salt Marsh development, that in partnership with the city,  which has proven to be a popular recreation space in the community.

Tonight may also give port officials and the city chance to further explore some of the shared interest in fire protection services for the waterfront, a topic that has been part of the ongoing budget discussion through November.

And as it's a night where the Budget process likely comes to a end, it will be worth watching to see if the City council members bring up the topic of PILT and other financial concerns that have made for the narrative for much of their financial discussions of the year.

More notes on tonight's Council Session can be reviewed through our Preview here.