The DP World facility, situated near Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, is one of three container terminals at the Port of Vancouver, accounting for 20% of its total freight movement, according to Port Technology Monday.
In order to increase its annual container handling capacity from 900,000 TEU to 1.5 million, a project has been launched to reconfigure and extend the terminal’s surface.
READ MORE: https://www.porttechnology.org/news/port_of_vancouver_agrees_large_scale_extension
Total funding for the extension has now risen to US$300.9 million, and is expected to be completed by December 2021.
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority has awarded a large-scale port project for the design and construction of its container terminal extension.
Still on the west coast, higher volume of exported goods from Terrace, BC, is needed to make a transloading facility “financially viable” for the municipality, according to a draft market analysis from the first phase of the feasibility study, said the Terrace Standard January 18.
The purpose of the study is to identify a preferred location within city limits for a terminal that would allow cargo to be transferred from truck to rail, and vice-versa. Consultants will also develop a business case that will be used to attract private sector interest, encourage partnership, and investment for the project.
Grant funding of $100,000 from the Rural Dividend Fund was used to finance the two-phased report, which is part of the city’s 2016 Economic Development Strategy. Changes to this first portion could be made before a final draft of the report is released in the summer.
Terrace, BC, Transload Facility Must Expand for More Lumber, Pellets Export
Consultants identified several anchor products for the Terrace facility, including the export of local lumber to the US, cement from the Lower mainland, and wood pellets.
Terrace has the potential of transporting between 120-480 cars of lumber per year, 190 cars of cement, and around 750 cars of wood pellets, but would still fall short of the 600-700 annual car threshold set by stakeholders.
Volume estimates are in the area of 1,000 40-foot containers per month (12,000 containers per year). Though none of the companies interviewed by consultants has made a final investment decision, potential operations could commence “sometime in 2020,” according to the report.
READ MORE: https://www.terracestandard.com/news/more-exported-goods-needed-for-terrace-transloading-facility-financially-viable-according-to-report/
Meanwhile in Eastern Canada, the St. Lawrence Seaway in 2018 saw its highest cargo numbers since 2007, propelled by a spike in grain shipments and global tariff wars that worked in Canada’s favour, according to Canadian Press January 17.
Traffic hit 40.9 million tonnes in 2018, a +7% year-over-year increase, according to the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp.
St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp
Grain made up nearly one-third of all tonnage on the 60-year-old waterway, rising +20% from 2017.
St. Lawrence Seaway Commodity Transport Broke All Records in 2018
Corn exports have more than doubled year over year to 782,000 tonnes since August 1, according to the Canadian Grain Commission. Soybean exports shot up +15% to 3.2 million tonnes in the same period.
With 12.1 million metric tons of grain moved, a +20% increase year-over-year, agriculture was a key commodity in driving tonnage and international traffic in 2018.
“We had a good year – aluminum tonnage was up +36% year-over-year and grain was up 325 percent year-over-year.”
St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp
Vessels shipped 12.1 million tons of grain, a +20% year-over-year increase, 10.7 million tons of dry bulk, a +3% year-over-year increase, and 4.5 million tons of liquid bulk, a +22% year-over-year increase, according to the Times of Northwest Indiana Monday.
Total vessel transits were up nearly +6% as compared to 2017. Despite tariffs of 25 percent of all foreign-made steel, cargoes of steel slabs rose +53% to 750,000 tons.
READ MORE: https://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/great-lakes-st-lawrence-seaway-shipping-the-highest-in-more/article_a3b40517-3d2e-58ba-9bdf-72ab74dfe64a.html