I was just wondering if anyone has heared anything new on the proposal to build a new container terminal at Roberts Bank? And whether or not it will be sufficient to capture the loads of containers coming out of Asia now?

I heard it has been stalled because of the environmental review process. At the rate Asia is expanding, I very much doubt that it would be sufficient to handle future traffic. We will be losing business to American cities, especially Seattle and Los Angeles, as well as Halifax and Montreal because our leaders lack vision in building big.

Well, whatever happened to the Prince Rupert container facility? Have they brocken ground yet? And the upgrades to the 2 container facilities on burrard inlet? If we are always saying we are the gateway to asia pacific, then why arent we embracing more development in that direction?

I dont know if ya'll have seen this article, im alittle laggy on reading BC stuff as im out of the country.

"News from globeandmail.com
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Port of Vancouver expansion delayed
Federal red tape holds back Pacific port in race to capitalize on rising Asian trade





PETER KENNEDY



VANCOUVER -- The Vancouver Port Authority says federal government red tape has delayed its expansion plans by a year and caused it to lose ground to U.S. rivals in the race to capture trade with China and other Asian trading partners.

The port said yesterday it had hoped to launch a $280-million expansion of its Delta port terminal, about 40 kilometres south of Vancouver, which accounts for about 53 per cent of the port's container traffic capacity.

But requests by the federal government for more environmental impact studies have delayed plans to begin construction on new facilities designed to boost capacity to 1.3 billion TEUs, an increase of 400,000 from current levels. (A TEU is a standard "twenty-foot equivalent unit" shipping container.)

It is now expected that the new facilities will not be available until January, 2009, a year later than expected, according to Gordon Houston, president of the Vancouver Port Authority.

"This process seems to be really slow and ponderous," Mr. Houston said. The port ranks as Canada's largest and most diversified port, with the capacity to handle $43-billion worth of goods annually.

Mr. Houston said lack of capacity is one of the reasons why Vancouver is getting left behind U.S. rivals, which have more capacity to handle shipments to and from Asia, and which saw double digit growth in traffic last year.

In 2005, Seattle, Long Beach and Tacoma in Washington state reported increases of over 16 per cent in container traffic volumes.

By comparison, the volume of container traffic through Vancouver rose by just 6 per cent in 2005 to 1.7 million TEUs, according to statistics released yesterday by the port authority.

Canadian exports groups said the strike last summer by short-haul container truckers was a stark reminder of how dependent they are on Vancouver for imported components, subassemblies, and other manufacturing inputs.

"The more backlogs we see, the greater the impact on the Canadian manufacturers,'' said Werner Knittel, vice-president of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters' B.C. division.

Mr. Knittel said the addition of two new 30-storey container cranes at the Port of Vancouver's Centerm terminal is a boost to Canadian manufacturers because they will enable the port to handle the world's largest ships.

But he said shippers are looking to additional new capacity that would be provided by the expansion of the Delta port as well as the development of a $170-million container facility at Prince Rupert, B.C. "This is absolutely needed,'' he said.

Within the next 15 years, the Port of Vancouver expects to see a 25-per-cent increase in bulk cargo shipments as well as a 300-per-cent rise in container traffic.

Mr. Houston said Vancouver must improve its competitive position, otherwise the opportunity to be a facilitator for rising Asian traffic will be lost.

Still, he said trade through the port grew by 4 per cent to 76.3 million tonnes in 2005. The rise was driven by sharply higher exports of petroleum products and canola, and record container traffic volumes.

Those increases, however, were offset by the 5-per-cent decrease in forest products exports, which account for about 10 per cent of the port's total export volume.

Mr. Houston attributed the decrease to the economic downturn in B.C.'s troubled coastal forest sector, and a 12-per-cent drop in lumber shipments."


Now how did Prince Rupert get approval from the Feds, quicker than Vancouver?

Did you all know their is a maritime sction in Skyscrapercity? lol cuz I didnt! sorry, dont worry about any of this!