Canada’s third largest container terminal is now officially open for business.
Fairview Terminal owner DP World celebrated the conclusion of its Phase 2 North expansion today with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house, which was attended by more than 1,000 community members and employees, as well as a long list of dignitaries representing shippers, supply chain partners, First Nations and government.
The expansion pushes Fairview’s annual throughput capacity from 850,000 to 1.35 TEUs annually. Speaking to the crowd, DP World’s group chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem said today’s achievement almost guarantees future growth.
“By rule of thumb, once we break 1 million [TEUs], there is nothing but expansion,” he said. Citing 35 years of experience in international trade, with 78 terminals world wide, bin Sulayem reiterated DP World’s vision for seeing Fairview as more than a destination for foreign imports, but a key player in the Canadian export business.
“This location is ideal to create a logistics hub … If you maintain the ability to handle a million containers, which is massive, that means the business you retain will only continue to grow. We are very ambitious and very confident that this will grow.”
Supporting 800 jobs at the terminal, Bin Sulayem praised the workforce at Fairview and called it an economic engine for the community.
Fairview Terminal now includes a second vessel berth serviced by three new Malacca-max cranes, allowing the world’s largest ships to access the terminal through one of the deepest port harbours. The expansion also includes 6,000 more feet of on-dock rail and an 11-hectare increase to the terminal footprint.
Since its conversion from a break-bulk facility in 2007, Fairview has been recognized as one of the fastest growing container terminals in North America.
Canada’s minister of international trade, François-Philippe Champagne, was on hand for the ceremony and lauded the terminal as a key piece of infrastructure for the nation’s economy, saying Canada is and always has been a maritime nation built on trade.
“As a country of only 36 million, our prosperity is fundamentally linked with our connection to the global economy,” he said in a speech to the crowd.
“We need to be an economy that is open to business and a welcoming place for investment … there’s a lot to be proud of here in Prince Rupert. In June, the Fairview terminal shipped over 900,000 tonnes of cargo, an increase of more than 50 per cent. Those are truly, truly impressive numbers.”
Champagne commended the increase as vital to job growth locally and regionally.
The success of the terminal is widely attributed to its geographical position on the trans-Pacific trade route and its high terminal productivity.
Don Krusel, president and CEO of the Port of Prince Rupert said the completion of Phase 2 North represents an important part of the port’s overall future growth strategy.
“This project is a significant addition to Canada’s trade infrastructure, and provides tremendous value to our shippers and many partners. It has become a major contributor to the regional economy and could not have been realized without collaboration and support of industry, labour, government, First Nations and our local communities.”