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Vancouver Island container port news and discussion


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#1 Bingo

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Posted 22 December 2013 - 12:23 PM

Port Alberni container port

 

In Port Alberni, which has languished in the doldrums for years thanks to the declining forestry industry that once dominated Vancouver Island trade, there’s new excitement over a possible breakthrough short-sea shipping container feeder link to Port Metro Vancouver, or Seattle and Tacoma.

 

The Federal Government has given the port authority $225,000 to study the prospects of such a short-sea service, which some say could help ease congestion at Vancouver’s major container terminals. Currently, all cargo received by the Vancouver port is loaded onto trains or trucks for transport to various warehouses and distribution centres such as Coast 2000 on the Fraser River.

 

Port Alberni Port Authority CEO Zoran Knezevic is already confident the idea has merit. He urges skeptics to look at a marine chart and see how most if not all container vessels now sail past the mouth of the Alberni Inlet on their way into Puget Sound or the Strait of Georgia and their major port facilities.

He is hopeful the study will show how container lines could save a day or so on each circuit by dropping off containers in Port Alberni where they will be barged directly to intermodal yards and warehouses for K-Mart, Canadian Tire and others with no significant loss of time. He even predicts shipping lines will likely be able to trim a vessel from their rosters because of the time savings.

 

In Nanaimo, where DP World is in charge of terminal operations, there’s also short-sea shipping excitement. The mid-Island port has already started a successful daily container feeder service to the Lower Mainland from Duke Point.

 

http://www.bcshippin...ng-piece-action

 



#2 amor de cosmos

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Posted 26 December 2013 - 09:37 AM

What if a spur off the E&N were built to this port from Parksville or something? There would be plenty of rail traffic then.

edit: wait a minute, there already is. Why isn't this container port happening yet?

Edited by amor de cosmos, 26 December 2013 - 09:51 AM.


#3 Mike K.

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Posted 26 December 2013 - 10:31 AM

People have been asking that very question for several decades now :)


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#4 Bernard

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Posted 26 December 2013 - 11:05 AM

One reason this may not make much economic sense is because of the increased due to extra handling of the containers.   Each movement of a container from one mode to another adds a lot to the cost of transport.  

 

Unloading in Port Alberni would then require the container to be loaded onto either a barge, rail, or truck.  

 

Barge would require unloading in the lower mainland which means all you do is end up where you were originally destined to be but with the costs of an extra loading/unloading.

 

Truck might work but would add the expense of ferry ride over the water to the mainland - speed might help here.

 

Rail could work but would require a much more extensive rail ferry service - Seaspan has a few rail barges, but I am not sure enough to handle the volume.

 

Any benefit from Port Alberni would be much better met via Prince Rupert.   Grays Harbor in Washington State would have all the benefits of Port Alberni but none of the downsides.   The problem will always be that we are on an island without fixed links to the mainland.   


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#5 Mike K.

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Posted 26 December 2013 - 12:01 PM

I suppose that's true, isn't it.

 

Do you know how much cost savings there would be by not having to hire a pilot to guide the vessel into the PoV and the costs associated with the added time/distance of sailing to the PoV then back again?


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#6 Bingo

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Posted 26 December 2013 - 05:28 PM

If the up island coal mine ever gets off the ground an upgraded rail line to Port Alberni would make some sense.  

 

I also wonder if rail cars could carry containers from Port Alberni to a terminal at Duke Point, if BC Ferries vacate that land. Container goods destined for the island could come directly here without first going to Vancouver to be unloaded and then shipped back to the island 

 

If the cruise ships were to stop at Port Alberni, there would be whale watching opportunities in Barkley Sound, fishing excursions,  and a scenic train ride to the Historic McLean Mill.

 



#7 G-Man

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Posted 26 December 2013 - 07:14 PM

Still think they need a rail connection to the mainland near Campbell River.

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#8 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 27 December 2013 - 10:59 AM

 

 

If the cruise ships were to stop at Port Alberni, there would be whale watching opportunities in Barkley Sound, fishing excursions,  and a scenic train ride to the Historic McLean Mill.

 

Would cruise lines ever choose to go around that side of the Island?


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#9 Mike K.

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Posted 27 December 2013 - 12:13 PM

Barkley Sound et al are on the same side they travel now.


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#10 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 27 December 2013 - 01:16 PM

Barkley Sound et al are on the same side they travel now.

 

Huh, somehow thought they went up inside.  

 

Princess-Inside_Passage-map-650.jpg


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#11 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 27 December 2013 - 01:20 PM

I like this one...

 

RoyalCaribbeanCruise-VancouverRoundtripC


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#12 Mike K.

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Posted 27 December 2013 - 01:48 PM

Things are quite tight between the Sunshine Coast and the Island. I wonder if a cruise ship could easily navigate those waters without having to employ a pilot.


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#13 LJ

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Posted 27 December 2013 - 06:32 PM

I have seen them go by when I was in Campbell River so some at least go up the east side of the island.


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#14 SamCB

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Posted 27 December 2013 - 08:11 PM

I have it on authority from a former Princess employee that if they make stops in Vancouver or Victoria they'll often go up inside of Vancouver island. If it's a Seattle only turnaround they take the outside apparently.



#15 Bingo

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Posted 27 December 2013 - 10:44 PM

Would cruise lines ever choose to go around that side of the Island?

 

Perhaps the ships going from San Deigo to Alaska.



#16 Bingo

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Posted 13 July 2014 - 08:33 AM

Port Alberni's PATH: Long-term vision will create new supply logistics chain

 

 

The concept

The full vision of PATH encompasses about 300 acres of land (larger than  Deltaport) at one of a number of different potential suitable locations being examined on the western side of the Alberni Inlet with an annual capacity of 2.5 million teus. It will be capable of handling the largest container ships that are presently operating on the West Coast as well as those that are expected to be operating here in the future — the Ultra Large Container Ships with a capacity of 14,500 teu and higher.

 

more:

http://bcshippingnew...logistics-chain

 

 



#17 North Shore

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Posted 13 July 2014 - 04:50 PM

??Bernard's comments above, though? So we get the port and ships, unload the containers onto trucks/trains, take them to Nanaimo, and then reload them onto another boat of some sort to get them across the Strait, where they are again loaded onto wheels for delivery across the Continent. How can this be more efficient than going straight to Vanterm or Deltaport ?
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#18 Bingo

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Posted 13 July 2014 - 10:01 PM

??Bernard's comments above, though? So we get the port and ships, unload the containers onto trucks/trains, take them to Nanaimo, and then reload them onto another boat of some sort to get them across the Strait, where they are again loaded onto wheels for delivery across the Continent. How can this be more efficient than going straight to Vanterm or Deltaport ?

 

Right, and the same logic can be applied to the proposed LNG plant in the same Alberni Canal area. Why would you pipe natural gas all the way from northeastern BC, and across water to the island, when it is closer to send it to the proposed LNG plant at Prince Rupert? The Prince Rupert port is much closer to the Asian markets.



#19 jonny

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Posted 14 July 2014 - 07:21 AM

Right, and the same logic can be applied to the proposed LNG plant in the same Alberni Canal area. Why would you pipe natural gas all the way from northeastern BC, and across water to the island, when it is closer to send it to the proposed LNG plant at Prince Rupert? The Prince Rupert port is much closer to the Asian markets.

 

I don't know the details, but one thought is that the pipelines already come here. I'm not sure if the same size of pipelines exist to Prince Rupert.



#20 G-Man

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Posted 14 July 2014 - 07:55 AM

??Bernard's comments above, though? So we get the port and ships, unload the containers onto trucks/trains, take them to Nanaimo, and then reload them onto another boat of some sort to get them across the Strait, where they are again loaded onto wheels for delivery across the Continent. How can this be more efficient than going straight to Vanterm or Deltaport ?


I doubt the big shipping companies care that much the faster they can deliver a cargo turn around and get more cargo the better. It would seem that Port Alberni would offer significant time savings over Vancouver or Deltaport.

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