1. 18 | Canadian Mining Journal • May 2012 www.canadianminingjournal.com
| Oil and Gas
I
nternational trade is a fickle busi-
ness, and no more so than in China.
The near collapse of its burgeoning
trade economy in the 1990s had
Canadian shippers shifting their business
back to traditional U.S. markets, where it
would remain until the Asian economy
rebounded a decade later.
But beyond the varying market condi-
tions,shippersalreadyhadtheireyestrained
on something else; namely, container ships,
the key elements in the entire offshore ship-
ping scenario. These were now the shipping
modeofchoice,representingarealopportu-
nity for those few North American ports
with the capacity to handle the vessel’s mas-
sive dimensions.
Other ports, like Prince Rupert, says
Shaun Stevenson, Vice-president of Trade
Development and Public Affairs for the
Prince Rupert Port Authority, could only
look on with envy.
“We couldn’t participate in that busi-
ness so it meant changing to meet the
evolving needs of shippers and exporters
in Canada, but also creating new capaci-
ties where the growth opportunity was,”
says Stevenson.
Prince Rupert’s unique position in
North America seemed to make increased
trade with Asia a no-brainer. Up to a day-
and-a- half closer to Asia than Los Angeles
and Seattle with the deepest natural har-
bour on the continent, the port knew it
could compete. Problem was its main
Fairview Terminal consisted of a traditional
general cargo and break bulk terminals. It
had to expand, and expand quickly.
Build it bigger, built it better…
The announcement came in April 2005:
The Port of Prince Rupert would con-
vert its Fairview Terminal into an inter-
modal container shipping terminal,
with a major expansion of the port’s
wharf and investments in rail infra-
structure connecting Toronto, Montreal
and Chicago to Asian markets.
Under Phase One, public and private
sector investors would contribute $170
million to increase the terminal’s design
capacity to 500,000 TEUs (6.2-m equiva-
lent units).
Designs complete, construction crews
set to increasing the dock area to 56 hect-
ares by stripping out about a metre of the
terminal’s existing surface area, laying
down a new sub base and fresh paving.
The biggest challenge, says Lorne
Keller, Vice-president of Project
Development for the Prince Rupert Port
Authority: the weather.
“While you’re moving all that material
around you’ve got a lot of rain. Sediment
PORT
PRINCE
A
OFA
MAJOR EXPANSION DESIGNED TO HANDLE
FUTURE EXPORTS OF CANADA’S OIL AND GAS
By Correspondent David Godkin

2. May 2012 • Canadian Mining Journal | 19
controls and those sorts of things were a
major construction challenge,” says Keller.
The biggest challenge on the design
side was extending the berth. The
15-metre draft alongside the existing
berth was insufficient for the 12,000 TEU
container vessels the port hoped to attract.
A decision was made to push the berth
face out 20 metres into deeper water and
increase the draft from 4.7 to 5.6 metres.
Solid rock provided a stable foundation in
which to anchor the pylons, says Keller.
“The last few metres we ran into some
fractured rock, which was a bit of an
installation issue, but other than that it
went really smoothly.”
Under Phase Two of the expansion, the
existing terminal will grow north and
south, quadrupling its capacity. That will
require extending the terminal area to the
northern tip of Fairview Terminal and
underwater blasting.
“We’re still going to have the eighteen
and a half meters alongside from the
berth face back towards the shore, but it’s
a relatively shallow piece of property. So
it’ll be easier to work in,” says Keller.
Currently, container ship cargo at
Prince Rupert is offloaded using three
1,800 tonne super post panamax cranes
with a reach of 22 containers. Up to 10
cranes will be on site at the completion of
the Phase Two expansion, says Keller.
“So they’ll have options. If there’s only
one vessel, they can have four to five
cranes working that vessel if they want.”
Assuming environmental and com-
mercial conditions make it practical to
proceed, the northern expansion will
begin construction this fall, says Keller.
This will add an additional berth and
increase the number of vessel calls per
week to 10.
How much container activity has the
expansion generated so far? Plenty, says
Shaun Stevenson. In fact, the terminal has
enjoyed record-breaking growth from
approximately four million tonnes to 20
million tonnes in the past four to five years.
Today, major shippers Cosco and Hanjin
Shipping of the CKYH Alliance operate
three weekly import services into Prince
Rupert – delivering everything from auto
parts to consumer-based electronics.
“Outbound we’re seeing forest and
agriculture products and mineral concen-
trates,” says Stevenson. It’s a trend he sees
continuing: “We expect to push the num-
ber of containers again this year and set
another record.”
More efficient on and off site…
If port officials undertook ambitious tasks
under Phase One, their plans for Phase
Two are downright Herculean. When it’s
completed in 2013, the container terminal
will quadruple to two million TEU capac-
ity, making it the second largest handling
facility on the West Coast.
Included in those ambitious plans is
expansion of Ridley Island Terminal, called
by port officials “a world leader” in the
transportation of coal from unit trains onto
ships. By the middle of last year, Ridley
Terminal had enjoyed a whopping 21 per
cent increase in activity, placing added pres-
sure on Ridley Terminals Inc. to expand.
“They’re well underway in terms of
their expansion,” says Keller. “They’ve
cleared their 35 acre parcel east of their
existing storage yard so some time next
year they’ll be able to extend their opera-
tions into that area and increase their stor-
age capacity.”
A fully automated facility, the 55 hect-
are terminal loads at an hourly rate of
9,000 tonnes of mostly metallurgical and
thermal coal, but also petroleum coke and
wood pellets. With an annual shipping
capacity for coal of 12 million tonnes and
storage capacity of 1.2 million tonnes, the
port expects its shipping capacity to grow
to 24 million tonnes. A big help will be the
two-car barrel dumper installed in
December, with a stacker reclaimer to be
installed some time next year.
Before that could happen, crews first
had to prepare the new 35 acre storage
site; their main obstacle - heavy, water-
laden muskeg. “Trying to scoop up water
with a back hoe is a bit of a challenge,”
Lorne Keller chuckles. “It’s highly saturat-
ed, so you’re moving as much water as you
are dirt.” Keller estimates contractor
Arctic Construction from Fort St. John,
B.C. had 60 work vehicles on site to
remove the overburden, including up to
40 rock trucks and about a dozen back
hoes.
By job’s end, crews had removed about
300,000 m3
of overburden, depositing it at
the port’s organic disposal site.
With the overburden gone, contractors
are now blasting rock within the high
points of the site, then crushing it and
Aerial photo show massive
storage areas and a network
of railway and conveyor
systems designed to make
shipping of coal and oil to
offshore customers.
Staging area for
supplies destined
for shipping.

3. 20 | Canadian Mining Journal • May 2012 www.canadianminingjournal.com
| Oil and Gas
using it as a sub base to create the new
storage yard.
Of course it’s one thing to increase
storage and loading capacity, quite
another to make sure trucks can get on
and off the new site. Currently, truck
traffic travels through Prince Rupert’s
downtown core. The answer is a brand
new $90-million Road Rail Utility
Corridor, consisting of three inbound
and two outbound tracks for coal, pot-
ash and other bulk terminal develop-
ments. Two additional tracks will form
a loop around the main part of Ridley
Island and one new track will extend off
the rail loop toward Ridley Terminals.
“This will introduce a whole new level
of efficiency to our container-handling
processes,” says Stevenson, “and further
integrate the existing coal and grain
facilities on Ridley Island.”
Road construction is set to begin this
summer, with the corridor open for busi-
ness in 2014. Even more exciting are
futurepossibilitiesfortheRidleyTerminal,
says Stevenson. The port is waiting on an
investment decision by Canpotex
Terminal Ltd for construction of a potash
export terminal, a decision Stevenson says
is imminent.
Put this in your pipe…
Much has also been made by reports
about Enbridge Inc.’s plans to possibly
ship oil from Alberta to container ships
on B.C.’s coast.
Environmentalists, and many First
Nations, staunchly oppose building the
pipeline, but what seems to have fallen
belowtheirradaristheenormousinterestin
Liquified Natural Gas (LNG). In fact, no
fewerthaneightprojectproposalshavebeen
announced for new LNG facilities in north
eastern B.C., mostly in or around Kitimat.
According to Shaun Stevenson, how-
ever, “there’s a lot more going on in the
LNG space than Kitimat.”
“BG Group is the second or third largest
player in the world in LNG. They’re in their
first phase of their site assessment and proj-
ectfeasibilityworkforanLBGsiteatRidley.”
The Port has provided BG Group with
200 acres to help it advance the LNG proj-
ect, says Stevenson. As for oil, the port has
a broad mandate to support Canada’s
trade agenda which has resulted in all
kinds of terminal proposals develop-
ments, he says.
His port could provide “a solution” for
Canada’s oil sector “as is being contem-
plated right now with the Northern
Gateway Project that Enbridge is pursuing
with Kitimat.”
“If that is a capacity that is going to be
required on the B.C. coast, then there’s no
doubt you’d look at Prince Rupert as one
of the safest places to do that.”
The one hitch could be Prince Rupert
City Council. In late February, Council
voted unanimously to formally oppose the
Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline, the
third northern local government to do so.
Is Shaun Stevenson still bullish about
the port’s future? Unquestionably. He calls
the outlook for the Port of Prince Rupert
“extraordinary.”
“That’s in the growth that we see happen-
ing in our existing terminal, but also in capi-
tal investments that are starting to line up. In
the next six to seven years we could see in
excess of $10 billion in capital expansion.”
Lorne Keller is just as excited going to
his job every day as Shaun Stevenson.
“I certainly am. It’s not often you can
work in a port that’s expanding and creat-
ing an enhanced gateway for goods
between North America and Asia.” CMJ
Coal has long been
a mainstay for port
operators on
Canada’s west coast.
Modern port facilities
enable huge ocean-going
ships to take on cargo
delivered to the docks by
road or rail.