Heavy equipment at one Metro Vancouver’s biggest container ports is now running on fully renewable fuel.
Global Container Terminals Inc. announced Thursday that renewable fuels at GCT’s Vanterm terminal have replaced diesel across heavy-duty equipment like container handlers, said vice-president of public affairs Marko Dekovic.
The initiative started as a pilot in August 2024 and ramped up progressively to this point, he said. Light duty vehicles like pickup trucks at Vanterm were already running on propane at that time, and are now being electrified, said Dekovic.
Vanterm achieved a 68 per cent reduction in emissions in the last quarter of 2024 since the transition began, said Dekovic.
The fuel that’s now being used is hydrogenation-derived renewable diesel (HDRD). This is fuel is produced from renewable feedstocks like vegetable oils and animal fats, according to a study from Natural Resources Canada on HDRD.
The chemical similarities between HDRD and conventional diesel also allowed for its implementation with minimal modifications to existing equipment at Vanterm, said Dekovic.
“[It] ends up having the same chemical structure as diesel, just with a very different emission profile,” he said. “The cost ends up being relatively comparable because of the different credit programs.”
GCT announced that it would be investing $160 million to densify and modernize the 31-hectare Vanterm on the Burrard Inlet in 2019.
Former GCT president Doron Grosman told BIV at the time that container-handling capacity would increase by around 25 per cent, from 835,000 20-foot shipping containers (TEU) annually to one million.
Additions would include two new ship-to-shore cranes, 10 rubber-tired gantry cranes and 19 empty-loaded container handlers.
GCT’s renewable fuel project was done in partnership with Parkland Corp.’s (TSX:PKI) refinery in Burnaby, and where the HDRD is sourced. SPAL General Constructors Corp., a project management company owned by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation in North Vancouver was also a partner.
The deployment of HDRD is also ongoing at GCT Deltaport, said Dekovic. The company plans to reduce its total emissions across its two terminals by 45 per cent in 2030, and be net zero by 2050, according to Thursday’s announcement.
“Like with anything new, there's always challenges,” said Dekovic.
Growing demand for HDRD could cause supply shortages in the future, he said, adding GCT is looking to expand its supply to mitigate future challenges.
Vancouver-based GCT currently operates two terminals in B.C.—the Vanterm and the Deltaport at Roberts Bank, an 85-hectare container terminal with a capacity of 2.4 million TEU.
GCT sold two other terminals in 2023: GCT New York on Staten Island and GCT Bayonne in New Jersey to French-based CMA CGM Group.
This renewable fuel project comes at a time when B.C.’s international vessel traffic is expected to increase 66 per cent by 2040 if a series of marine transport and resource projects are completed, according to a May 28 study by non-profit Clear Seas.
Liquefied natural gas projects along B.C.’s coastline would be the main drivers of this growth, followed by several expansion projects to existing container terminals like the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project and the GCT Deltaport berth four expansion.
—With files from Chuck Chiang and Jeremy Hainsworth
