Vancouver port’s new container hub limits truck trips

VANCOUVER, (Feb. 19, 2004) — The Vancouver Port Authority and its private sector partner, Fraser Group Holdings, have announced the completion of phase I of a new $35 million axis container handling facility that is expected to increase port capacity while eliminating unnecessary container pick-up and drop-off trips for trucks.

The South Richmond project, centrally located between the Port of Vancouver’s three major deepsea terminals and Fraser-Surrey Docks, in New Westminster, puts selected importers and exporters in the same location, eliminating the need to truck empty containers between the two.

The VPA is expecting a 2.5 million increase in TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) by 2020, and is not keen on expanding the terminal infrastructure, which is the most expensive option. With the new hub, the VPA believes it can eliminate 10,000 truck trips from Lower Mainland roads by the end of the year. The group said the project also frees valuable land at deepsea terminals that is currently used for storing empty containers.

The first tenant on the export side is Coast 2000 Terminals Ltd., a major exporter of B.C. forest products. The company hopes to create synergy between import containers and the export of forest products.

Spokesperson Alan Daniels explained the process to Today’s Trucking this way: “When a container comes in from China, it will be trucked full to the axis project where it will be de-stuffed, and then stuffed right there with B.C. forest products,” he says. “So what it does is it doesn’t put any empty containers on the road. At the moment, a container goes from the docks to an importer where it’s de-stuffed, and the goods are transported on. Then that box goes back to the terminal for storage. So there’s two truck moves.

“Now when the exporter needs a container he’s got to pick that up from the port terminal and take it to his facility where he loads export products, so that’s another two moves … It doesn’t take truck off the road per se, but it eliminates unnecessary truck trips.”

The push now is to attract tenants on the import side such as major North American retailers and distributors.