June 29, 2015
The Port of Prince Rupert is located on the northern coast of British Columbia, 137 km (85 miles) southeast of Ketchikan, Alaska. The smallest of the major blue-water container ports in North America, Prince Rupert is the fastest growing, averaging over 22 percent quarterly growth in container traffic year-on-year since January 2014 according to Global Port Tracker figures. Although cargo diverted from U.S. West Coast ports during the recent longshore contract negotiations temporarily increased business at the port, other factors appear to be the major drivers of more sustained, longer-term growth.
Prince Rupert is the deepest natural port in North America, and, unlike many U.S. ports, requires no dredging. Channel depths range from 34 to 44 metres (112-144 feet) and water depths at berth from 5 to 20 metres (16.5-65.5 feet). Although ultra-large vessels exceeding 14,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) do not currently call at Prince Rupert, it could accommodate 18,000 TEU container ships with a draft of 16 metres (52.5 feet) and theoretically the 24,000 TEU behemoths now in development.
Rail connectivity is another key aspect of Prince Rupert’s competitiveness. The port’s container facilities were the first in North America built specifically for on-dock intermodal (ship-to-rail) operations. Canadian National Railway Company (CN), North America’s only bi-coastal railroad, operates service from the port to Chicago and the U.S. Gulf coast. The rail line runs through the lowest grade crossing in the Rockies and has more than sufficient capacity to handle projected growth in freight volumes.
Built in 2007, Prince Rupert’s Fairview container terminal is operated by Maher Terminals and has among the highest productivity rates on the West Coast. Fairview covers 24 hectares (59 acres), has an annual operational capacity of 850,000 TEUs, and a container yard capacity of 9,000 TEUs. The quay is 360 metres (1,181 feet) in length, has a single berth with a depth of 18.7 metres (61.4 feet) and three 1,800 tonne, super post-panamax cranes able to span 22 containers.
In March 2015, Maher announced it would proceed with plans to expand the Fairview terminal. Once this “Phase 2” expansion is completed in mid-2017, the terminal’s capacity will increase by 500,000 TEUs to over 1.3 million TEUs annually. The plan also calls for an expansion of the total area of the terminal to 32 hectares (80 acres) and the addition of a second deep-water berth with the quay lengthened to 400 metres (1,443 feet). There will also be four additional gantry cranes, an expanded container yard with storage capacity of 8,360 TEUs, and seven train tracks in the intermodal yard measuring 9,144 metres (30,000 feet).
Meanwhile, the global marine-terminal owner, DP World, announced in April its intention to purchase the Fairview terminal from Maher’s owner, Deutsche Bank, for CDN$580m, take over operation of the terminal, and continue implementation of Phase 2 expansion. Post 2017, DP World is developing plans for further expansion of the terminal’s annual capacity to 2.45 million TEUs. The plan also envisions 8 post-panamax gantry cranes, a total area of 56 hectares (139 acres), a quay 800 metres (2,625 feet) in length, and an on-site storage capacity of 28,560 TEUs. If these factors succeed in driving even faster growth in its container business, the big plans for the Port of Prince Rupert could result in big benefits to every stakeholder – the local community, investors, business partners, and beneficial cargo owners.