The clock is ticking on plans to have a new container handling facility operating at Prince Rupert, B.C., by late next year.
“For us to stay on our timeline to have the facility up and running by the end of 2006, we’re reaching a very critical point,” said Don Krusel, president and chief executive officer of the Prince Rupert Port Authority.
If construction is to begin this summer, as has been the plan, orders will soon have to be placed for container cranes, steel and other crucial components.
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The key to going ahead with the $250 to $300 million project is getting $40 million from the federal government.
Port officials were hoping finance minister Ralph Goodale would formally announce the funding as part of the Feb. 23 budget.
While that didn’t happen, they were encouraged by a reference in his speech to the need to invest in “public infrastructure, including … vital new trading ‘gateways’ like those along our Pacific coast.”
Krusel said that provides grounds for optimism about Ottawa’s intentions.
“We know that was there as a reference to our project,” he said. “We are working in close concert with the government, we know officials are looking at it very carefully and we remain cautiously optimistic that the federal government will come through.”
Krusel said transport minister Jean Lapierre supports the plan, as does industry minister David Emerson.
A major roadblock is the Canada Marine Act, which bars the federal government from investing directly in Canadian ports.
“That’s where the attention is being placed right now, looking at the various potential mechanisms that would allow for this funding to go through,” Krusel said.
The port authority has also asked the B.C. government to ante up more money. The province has already committed $17 million, but has been asked for another $13 million.
“I guess we’re cautiously optimistic on that front, too,” he said.
The port announced plans to develop a container handling facility in 2004. Containers arriving from Asia would be shipped via the Canadian National Railway network to major population centres in Western Canada, the U.S. Midwest and Eastern Canada.
Officials say agricultural shippers on the Prairies would benefit by gaining access to empty containers being shipped back to Prince Rupert.
The first phase of the project, with a price tag of $175 million, will result in annual traffic of 400,000 TEUs, or 20-foot equivalent units.
The financing now in place includes $17 million from the province, $60 to $70 million from Maher Terminals Inc. of New Jersey to buy cranes and other equipment, and $15 million from CN to upgrade and improve its rail line to the port to accommodate double-stacked containers.
The second phase of the project, scheduled for completion by 2009, would see expansion to a total capacity of 1.2 million TEUs at a cost of $250 to $300 million.
