Aerial view of Fraser Surrey Docks at the Port of Vancouver, BC
Port Metro Vancouver, and its two breakbulk terminals, Lynnterm and Fraser Surrey Docks, truckers and the B.C. government are working towards establishing a pre-approved highway corridor for High and Heavy cargo between the port and the neighboring province of Alberta, home of the Alberta Oilsands. As part of the process the government has brought in two consulting firms, InterVISTAS Consulting Group and College Transportation Consulting, to prepare a Cargo Forecast and Needs Assessment for the Gateway.
Doug Mills, PMV’s Senior Account Representative For Bulk and Breakbulk Cargo told the AJOT that in recent meetings with government and industry it was determined that there was a need for a revision of the regulatory process involved in transporting dimensional and project cargo through the mountains to Alberta.
“It was probably one of the biggest issues in terms of potentially preventing cargo from getting from the ports (including the Port of Prince Rupert) to major projects in Western Canada,” he said.
“Right now the real issue for shippers is uncertainty,” he said. “Having to come and go through the entire process which can involve extended periods of time to get approved and substantial costs which are often duplicated we need to eliminate that because the competition is not doing that – the competition being the U.S. gateways.
What the group is proposing is a pre-approved 300 metric ton gross vehicle weight corridor with 7.3 meters in width.
“We believe this will handle 90% of the freight being offered,” said Mills,
He said the consulting project has recently been expanded to cover the “New West Partnership” (all Western Provinces) and the new project is more encompassing in terms of overall forecasting.
“Of that, project cargo was one of the sectors,” he said. “We were invited to participate in one of these sessions. Interestingly, the (Provincial) Ministry of Transport was at the working group table as was the Alberta Government, Prince Rupert, both railways, forward project logistics companies, heavy haul trucking companies; all people who could speak to the issues.”
“And, other than some specific comments unique to individuals, the broad observation was that there was a common voice in terms of the need for a revision of the regulatory process,” he said.
“Particularly we were focusing on major energy projects that have been forecast for the next 15 to 20 years, being LNG, oil, gas, biofuels, oilsands, wood energy and hydro electric.
“One of the key comments that was made was that if the issues around permitting and moving heavy cargo inter-region are not addressed they could impact decisions to actually go ahead with some of these projects,” he said.
Mills said it is his understanding that work on the project will be completed and presented to the Premiers of the Western Provinces in the form of a written report by sometime in October.
“However, the heavy haul load group Mills is part of has sent a letter to the Province saying they would like to see a heavy load corridor established from the Vancouver Gateway to the Alberta border.”
“The group has also asked that a decision be made so it can be announced by the end of September,” he said.
Asked about the possibility of environmental resistance to the group’s plan Mills said since it is a Canadian project involving Canadian companies and employees there’s a direct benefit to many families and opposed to the U.S. where they are seeing cargoes moving out of their own country to Canada.
“Also, in the United States,” he said, “you are talking about multiple jurisdictions, much of the transportation network is divvied up into various counties, cities, regions with each having their own permitting process and each having their own vetting and community requirements. Our basic plan is, first of all, we’re a Canadian port supporting Canadian projects. In addition, much of the routing we’re talking about is existing cargo transportation corridors.”
“Many of those that we have spoken to, inside and out of government, are very aware of what needs to be done and what the opportunities are for doing it. I think part of the problem is there may not be a clear understanding vertically within government of the potential impediments that exist and to the extent that they exist.
“It’s even clearer to me that industry doesn’t clearly understand the opportunity that is the British Columbia Option,” he said.
