A review by Transport Canada concluded that the port authority is already taking measures to accommodate future export growth
Officials at Canada’s busiest marine port say there is no need to privatize the port, adding that its current governance structure is serving Canada’s trade interests well.
“Our mandate is to enable Canada’s trade and to do so considering the concerns of the community and protecting the environment,” port officials said in a Feb. 3 email.
“There are examples around the world where ports have been privatized and if we look at the governance model that we have in place here (at the Port of Vancouver), it works very well to allow us to deliver our mandate.”
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Late last year, Transport Canada announced that it had hired financial services company Morgan Stanley to provide advice on Canada’s transportation infrastructure.
Among other things, Morgan Stanley was asked to assess the potential privatization of various transportation assets in Canada, including air and marine ports.
The hiring of Morgan Stanley was announced in November 2016, following a comprehensive review of the Canadian Transportation Act (CTA) led by former Conservative cabinet minister David Emerson.
The Emerson review contained 60 recommendations. Among them was a recommendation to examine the “feasibility and viability of adopting a share capital structure for Canada Port Authorities.”
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The Port of Vancouver is the largest and busiest marine port in Canada. It handles roughly 140 million tonnes of cargo each year, including more than 20 million tonnes of agricultural crops including grains, oilseeds, pulses and feed products.
With Canada’s agricultural production expected to increase in the coming years and demand for Canadian products projected to rise, cargo volumes through the port are likely to see significant and sustained growth, port officials said.
Between now and 2020, overall tonnage is expected to increase at an average rate of 4.5 percent annually, the port authority stated in its 2015 annual report.
That would push total cargo to more than 170 million tonnes by 2020.
To accommodate this growth and address capacity constraints, the port has undertaken a number of large-scale infrastructure projects intended to accommodate truck, train and ship movements.
In 2014 and 2015, the port authority allocated nearly $170 million for capital infrastructure projects aimed at improving traffic flow and accommodating growth in bulk and containerized traffic.
Infrastructure investments, such as the Low Level Road realignment project in North Vancouver, have enhanced the throughput efficiency of grain terminals on the North Shore of the Burrard Inlet.
That project involved the elevation and realignment of a busy traffic route, eliminated three at-grade rail crossings and made room for additional rail capacity.
A similar project on the south shore of the inner harbour built an elevated roadway above the rail line to ease traffic congestion.
Port official Peter Xotta said projects such as the Low Level Road changes send a clear signal to export terminal operators and potential investors that the port is expanding to accommodate future growth.
Other major infrastructure projects underway or under review include the Centerm Expansion Project, which includes a series of proposed upgrades aimed at improving traffic flows in and out of the existing container terminal on the south shore of Vancouver’s inner harbour and the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project, a proposed new multi-berth container terminal in Delta, B.C.
If the Roberts Bank project goes ahead as planned, it will provide additional capacity of 2.4 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent container units) per year, enough to meet forecasted demand until 2030.
Between 2016 and 2020, the port’s capital plan identifies about $1.3 billion in total infrastructure spending on projects aimed at increasing port capacity, improving throughput efficiency, optimizing the port’s waterfront land inventory and maintaining or replacing key infrastructure assets.
Port of Vancouver officials welcomed other recommendations contained in the Emerson Review and applauded Ottawa’s 2016 commitment to contribute more than $10 billion over the next decade to major trade and transportation infrastructrue upgrades in Canada.
“Vancouver Fraser Port Authority welcomes this long-term commitment, and looks forward to investments in the Pacific region to address road and rail bottlenecks and keep Canada’s trade moving to and from the Port of Vancouver,” the port said.
