Dubai is big on B.C.’s north; entrepreneurs with hopes for a more diversified economy for the province should be too.
As noted in Business in Vancouver’s “DP World wagers $200 million on Prince Rupert as a global logistics hub ”, an August 29 Port of Prince Rupert event celebrated the completion of Dubai-based DP World’s $200 million project to expand the port’s Fairview container terminal cargo-handling capacity by roughly 60%. It was a big deal for a north coast port that gambled 10 years ago on building a container terminal. But it is a far bigger deal for the province’s future.
The Port of Prince Rupert’s bottom-line advantage over other West Coast North American ports is basic geography. It is approximately 500 nautical miles closer to northern Asian ports than its competitors. That 60-hour savings in sailing time is money in the bank for steamship lines. And, as always, money speaks volumes.
Where once there was a single major shipping line willing to gamble on Prince Rupert’s ability to deliver container cargo efficiently to the U.S. heartland, there are now seven. Where once there was a single CN train per week hauling containers from Prince Rupert, there are now more than 15.
Fairview Phase 2 North is the result of a rare community, labour, management, business and government partnership in which all parties are invested in a common goal: save a northern port mortally wounded by a drastic drop in its break-bulk, pulp and paper and natural resource business.
The port is unencumbered by the urban congestion complications common to other trade gateways. Plans are therefore in the works for further Fairview expansion to establish it and the port as a leading North American trade hub.
That ambition 10 years ago would have been laughable elsewhere around the continent, but no one is laughing now – except the Fairview principals and the people of Prince Rupert.
