(The following story by Frank Peebles appeared on the Prince George Citizen website on November 26.)
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. — Northern B.C.’s economic forecast has taken a sunny turn, according to CN Rail officials and politicians who officially opened Prince George’s new intermodal terminal and distribution centre at a Saturday ceremony at River Road.
“This is a special moment,” Mayor Colin Kinsley said. “This grand opening is really putting Prince George on the map. We are already hearing comments back from Asia that they’re talking about Prince Rupert and the connection through here. With the recent opening of the port, it’s realized a dream of many of us that goes back over a decade.
“This transmodal facility and the Port of Prince Rupert will create new and exciting opportunities and change the face of northern B.C. The potential is enormous. In coming years we will access markets, because we are right in the middle of the world’s greatest wood fibre basket. Our forests are a backbone in our culture, and we’re going to expand on that. With this connection to Asia, in the next decade you’re going to see more and more manufacturing here.”
The $20-million Prince George facility opened for business Oct. 14, shortly before the first ship arrived from Asia at Prince Rupert’s Fairview container terminal.
“They (CN) have made some very bold and courageous investments in this corridor,” said Prince Rupert Port Authority president/CEO Don Krusel, noting industry experts had predicted this development could not happen. “Well, it has happened, and it’s something to celebrate. I have always said that container terminal is much more than simply a piece of transportation infrastructure. It’s a piece of transformational infrastructure. It’s going to transform not only the economy of Prince Rupert, it’s going to transform the economy of northern B.C., and this (Prince George facility) is an example of the transformation that’s taking place as a result of this trade corridor that we have now opened up.”
The Prince George distribution centre, formerly a diesel shop, includes an 84,000 square-foot warehouse and 10 acres of outside storage. It offers services such as product transfer, inspection, consolidation-deconsolidation, inventory control and transportation.
Products arrive in loaded boxcars or by truck. Containers are then lifted onto railway flatcars at the adjacent intermodal rail yard, transported to Prince Rupert, which takes 15 hours, then loaded onto ships destined for Asia.
A total of 13 people – 11 from Prince George – are presently employed at the intermodal terminal and distribution centre.
“The opportunities here in this warehouse are huge,” said Jim Vena, senior vice-president of CN’s western region. “In essence, CN, along with many of you here today, have created a supply chain without any weak links.”
“This is tremendous,” Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon said. “It was only five decades ago that the St. Lawrence Seaway opened. And the St. Lawrence Seaway was opening up a new trade corridor between an emerging Europe and North America. Well, today there’s a new corridor opening up, a corridor between the fastest growing economies of the world in Asia, and of course North America and the West Coast of North America, with British Columbia being at the forefront and the closest geographic position to Asia. And Prince George is going to play a very important role as we expand the new Asia Pacific gateway in British Columbia and Canada.
“Our natural advantages are obvious. You can shave 58 hours of sailing time by landing your vessel in Prince Rupert, and you can have your goods in the U.S. Midwest by the time that same ship would land in the port of Long Beach or L.A.”