THE Canadian Port of Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia moved its one millionth TEU in 2018 through the recently expanded Fairview Container Terminal.
The container was filled with dimensional lumber from Canfor and was moved by rail to the Fairview terminal before being loaded as sea freight onto the Cosco Africa in December, reported Saskatoon's Western Producer.
'Reaching one million TEU in a calendar year is an exciting milestone,' said Port of Prince Rupert president Shaun Stevenson.
Just a few years ago, the thought of handling a million TEU containers per year was considered far beyond the port's capabilities. However, terminal expansions and other infrastructure projects at Prince Rupert have allowed the port to significantly expand its container handlings.
Prince Rupert's Fairview Container Terminal opened in 2007 and handled about 182,000 containers in its first full year of operation. A 2017 expansion project boosted the facility's capacity to 1.35 million TEU. Another expansion scheduled to start this year will raise the terminal's annual capacity to 1.8 million TEU, Mr Stevenson said.
'We've got plans to take the terminal up to about 2.7 million TEU that are already through the environmental assessment process,' he said.
In a recent interview, Mr Stevenson said agricultural products accounted for 33 per cent of the port's total containerised exports in 2018, up from 21 per cent a year earlier.
'Containerised ag products have typically been specialty crops, pulses, cubes, pellets and things like that,' Mr Stevenson said. 'But what we're seeing growth in recently is more conventional grains and oilseeds, and some soybeans as well.'
Port authority communications co-ordinator Monika Cote said the expansion of the Fairview Terminal represents a major opportunity for Canadian agricultural exporters. The anticipated opening of a new Intermobil container terminal east of Regina in the first half will provide additional options for agricultural shippers in southern Saskatchewan.
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The container was filled with dimensional lumber from Canfor and was moved by rail to the Fairview terminal before being loaded as sea freight onto the Cosco Africa in December, reported Saskatoon's Western Producer.
'Reaching one million TEU in a calendar year is an exciting milestone,' said Port of Prince Rupert president Shaun Stevenson.
Just a few years ago, the thought of handling a million TEU containers per year was considered far beyond the port's capabilities. However, terminal expansions and other infrastructure projects at Prince Rupert have allowed the port to significantly expand its container handlings.
Prince Rupert's Fairview Container Terminal opened in 2007 and handled about 182,000 containers in its first full year of operation. A 2017 expansion project boosted the facility's capacity to 1.35 million TEU. Another expansion scheduled to start this year will raise the terminal's annual capacity to 1.8 million TEU, Mr Stevenson said.
'We've got plans to take the terminal up to about 2.7 million TEU that are already through the environmental assessment process,' he said.
In a recent interview, Mr Stevenson said agricultural products accounted for 33 per cent of the port's total containerised exports in 2018, up from 21 per cent a year earlier.
'Containerised ag products have typically been specialty crops, pulses, cubes, pellets and things like that,' Mr Stevenson said. 'But what we're seeing growth in recently is more conventional grains and oilseeds, and some soybeans as well.'
Port authority communications co-ordinator Monika Cote said the expansion of the Fairview Terminal represents a major opportunity for Canadian agricultural exporters. The anticipated opening of a new Intermobil container terminal east of Regina in the first half will provide additional options for agricultural shippers in southern Saskatchewan.
WORLD SHIPPING