Harper lays out 600M Pacific port plan

VANCOUVER — The $591 million Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper will help turn Canada’s West Coast into one of the premier trade gateways in the Pacific, says the President of the Vancouver Port Authority.

Gordon Houston says the federal government’s immediate allocation of $321 million will address urgent road and rail capacity and congestion issues to improve goods movement in the gateway.”

“The federal government’s investment of $591 million in funding for infrastructure and programs to enhance Canada’s Pacific Gateway moves British Columbia’s ports closer to realizing the tremendous economic potential of expanding Asia-Pacific trade,” said Houston, who says the VPA and terminal operators have invested more than $400 million in recent years to boost container handling capacity. “But our investment means nothing without the supporting expanded road and rail networks that move goods to and from the port,” said Houston.

Immediate federal funding includes up to $50 million for overpasses and underpasses along the Roberts Bank Railway Corridor, up to $100 million toward construction of the South Fraser Perimeter Road, and up to $2 million over two years to support environmental assessments for the South Fraser Perimeter Road work.

The cash is welcome news not just to the VPA, but also to big box shippers and trucking companies frustrated in recent years with Lower Mainland port’s inability to keep capacity level close to skyrocketing trade to and from Asia.

A recent report by the Western Transportation Advisory Council (Westac), a non-profit group of business, labour and government leaders focused on the western Canadian economy and transportation system, stated that container throughput at B.C. ports is expected to nearly triple in the next decade while break bulk could double.

There are several challenges in ramping capacity at west coast terminals, said Westac. Road infrastructure and feeder routes leading to the ports need to be vastly expanded, the report urges. Furthermore, additional train slots for both commodities and containers will also be needed.

The Port of Vancouver is Canada’s largest port, trading $43 billion in goods.