The global equity market bloodletting in the wake of China’s “Black Monday” dominated last week’s headlines, but down at street level in Metro Vancouver more immediate business issues need attention.
For example, the increasingly worrisome erosion of viable industrial land has far-reaching consequences for the region.
As pointed out in “Native lands no safety valve for industrial squeeze” (BIV issue 1347; August 25-31), Metro Vancouver’s 6,630-acre base of vacant industrial land could be gone by 2020, and according to commercial real estate development association NAIOP, much of that inventory is poorly situated, too small or otherwise impractical for industrial purposes.
Many owners of prime industrial land are also hedging bets and banking on residential and mixed-use rezoning that would generate a far higher return on their property investment.
But one of the main challenges facing major employers and wealth generators like Port Metro Vancouver (PMV) is securing industrial land now to expand as trade with Asia and other global economic regions grows.
Container traffic through the port continues to increase as those regions seek the most efficient trade routes to the North American heartland.
A recent report from global shipping consultancy Drewry estimates that the world’s container traffic will increase 4.5% per year through 2019.
The number of containers being shipped through PMV grew to 2.9 million in 2014 from 2.7 million in 2012; container shipments through the port during 2015’s first six months were up 8.3% over the same time in 2014. Some of that increase resulted from shippers diverting containers from the U.S. West Coast during labour disruptions that stalled operations at its ports from mid-2014 through early 2015.
But that momentum and its benefits to the local economy will be lost if PMV’s container and other cargo-handling efficiency is compromised by an industrial land shortage that prevents expansion to service new and existing customers.
