DP World’s and the Prince Rupert Port Authority’s southward expansion feasibility study for the Fairview Container Terminal has the backing of the City of Prince Rupert.
In a press release sent out last week, the City of Prince Rupert Mayor Lee Brain spoke glowingly of the Fairview Terminal’s potential growth to handle 2 - 2.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year of containerized cargo – the facility is one of the fastest growing container terminals in North America.
“The first eight years of operation at the Fairview Container Terminal have been incredible for the City and region,” said the mayor.
“The benefits have included hundreds of well-paying jobs and a start on rebuilding the industrial tax base of the city.”
The City mentioned in its release that a growing Fairview Terminal fits in with its grand Hays 2.0 vision, which sees increased trade to Europe through transshipping at the Prince Rupert port.
Earlier in the month, the City also released an endorsement from the Prince Rupert Port Authority’s (PRPA) chairman Bud Smith around its plans to collaborate with the Port on any worldwide vision that mayor and council may have for the North Coast port town.
“Today we are all benefiting from the leadership and perseverance of the Prince Rupert Port Authority. The success of the Fairview Container Terminal has its origins in a bold vision,” Brain added.
The mayor also hinted at restructuring the downtown core in the future – something Brain said would have to happen with increased container traffic coming from the port and heading to its Container Examination Facility (CEF) at Ridley Island. Though, PRPA is looking at developing the former J.S. McMillan Fisheries’ Cannery site as a new CEF, alleviating the need for trucks to travel downtown.
The City’s press release notes that discussions with the Province would be a priority “to investigate the capacity and safety of Highway 16 and city streets”.
“In this investigation we would have to take into account the eventual re-development of the downtown core in Prince Rupert. Future plans for the city’s core would have to examine the viability of maintaining a provincial highway with increasing car and truck traffic routed through the downtown of the city,” said Brain.
A redesign of the downtown core is a major component of the Re:Design Rupert campaign, to be ramped up in 2016 and has already started to see progress through the Third Avenue sidewalk rehabilitation project, to be completed in a five-year timeframe.
“As we head into 2016, the visions of the PRPA, DP World and the City are well-aligned,” Brain noted.