Trade wars aside, the more pressing question for B.C. and the rest of the country is this: will Canada be able to handle increases in trade volumes through its ports, especially those on its West Coast, or will complex and redundant permitting processes sink the huge opportunity presented by the continued growth in transpacific business?
Recently released Port of Vancouver statistics showed another increase in its container cargo traffic, this time to a record 1.64 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) for the first six months of 2018.
Overall, the outlook for global containerized cargo traffic is optimistic. In its most recent container market outlook, Drewry upgraded its 2018 growth forecasts to 6.5% from the previous 6.1% based on what it noted has been a broad-based recovery of container shipping demand around the world.
But as analysts for the U.K.-based shipping consultancy noted, the shadow hanging over that optimism remains the continued trade friction between the U.S. and China.
The more immediate shadow hanging over the Port of Vancouver, however, is its ability to grow.
The long-standing worry here is Metro Vancouver’s rapidly worsening shortage of industrial land suitable for port uses. But the federal government’s new Environmental Assessment Act adds more uncertainty to the equation. Apart from multiplying politically discretionary factors in approval processes for infrastructure and other development, the act muddies the waters for the port over its role in permitting major terminal overhauls and other key expansion initiatives.
As more of those projects are required to navigate politically based federal permitting standards, fewer will get built.
Lost, then, will be the port’s ability to upgrade the infrastructure efficiency and environmental standards needed for it to compete with other North American ports servicing major trade corridors.
Lost, too, will be its ability to increase its contribution to local, regional and national economies.
