One of the largest and busiest container terminals in Vancouver is getting a major upgrade.
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority announced in late April that it has approved the permit application for the Centerm Expansion Project and South Shore Access Project.
The Centerm expansion includes a series of improvements to Centerm’s container terminal as well as port-area roads along the south shore of Vancouver’s inner harbour.
Proposed terminal improvements would increase the maximum container-handling capacity at Centerm by two-thirds, from 900,000 20-foot equivalent unit containers (TEUs) to 1.5 million TEUs.
Read Also
Land crash warning rejected
A technical analyst believes that Saskatchewan land values could be due for a correction, but land owners and FCC say supply/demand fundamentals drive land prices – not mathematical models
The project would increase the terminal’s physical footprint by about 15 percent and would come at an estimated cost of more than $300 million.
Port officials said the project will help meet anticipated growth in demand for container capacity.
Centerm currently handles about 20 percent of containerized goods that are shipped through the Port of Vancouver.
“Our third-party forecasts indicate that West Coast ports will run out of capacity to handle containers by the mid-2020s,” port officials said.
“As such, we are working with government and industry to prepare the port for growing trade.”
About 3,160 vessels call on the Port of Vancouver each year.
A 2016 analysis suggested daily vessel calls could increase by as much as 12 ships per day by 2026.
Another major expansion project is also nearing completion at Deltaport, Canada’s largest container terminal.
That project will ease the flow of truck and rail traffic and allow Deltaport to increase annual container handlings by roughly 30 percent.
Centerm is one of three primary container-handling terminals in the Port of Vancouver.
The Centerm expansion is expected to create about 350 full-time equivalent jobs during construction and more than 300 full-time equivalent positions during operation.
A start date for construction has not yet been decided but it could begin in early 2019.
Port officials said Centerm operations will not be affected during construction.
Centerm is operated by DP World Vancouver.
