The top executive at GCT Global Container Terminals Inc. - the operator of largest container port facility in Canada at the Port of Vancouver – has resigned, the company said this morning.
In a statement, GCT said Doron Grosman – who has been with the company since 2017 – will step down as the firm’s president and CEO, effective Feb. 25.
GCT noted that the company’s business operations, including the workings at Deltaport at Roberts Bank – the country’s largest container port terminal – will not be affected by the change. In the meantime, GCT Canada president Eric Waltz and GCT USA president John Atkins will assume joint leadership and report directly to the company’s board of directors, the statement said.
The departure appears to be non-confrontational in nature; in its release, GCT thanked Grosman for consistently distinguishing himself by having “significantly enhanced shareholder value since assuming the CEO/president role at GCT Global Container Terminals Inc.
GCT is currently in the news for its bid to expand Deltaport’s capacity with its Berth 4 project, which has begun the environmental impact assessment process recently. More notably, GCT has been at odds with its landlord, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, over rival projects to expand container terminal capacity at Roberts Bank.
VFPA is proposing a completely separate, $3.5-billion landfill terminal called Terminal 2 – which is significantly larger than Berth 4’s proposed scale. The RBT2 project, which is now in its final public comment period before a decision by Ottawa, would be operated by another operator if approved, the Port Authority said.
GCT has maintained that Berth 4 is a more right-sized and economically responsible project given its smaller scale, adding that it believes the VFPA has shown a conflict of interest in pushing RBT2 and blocking DP4’s progress.
