Report has Ridley Terminals putting expansion plans on hold for five years

RTI Loading hopper part of
the Terminal operations on
Ridley Island

Those that follow the state of the coal industry these days won't be surprised by an article from the Globe and Mail of today, that outlines that Prince Rupert's Ridley Terminals is scaling back the timeline of their expansion project at the Coal Terminal.

With apparent plans to halt the much anticipated expansion to arrive, once the Terminal has hit the mark of 18 million tonnes of capacity.

Globe and Mail Business journalist, Brent Jang, who recently toured the Northwest to learn more about the industrial base of the region, provides a lengthy review on the Globe website  of some of the details of the plan to hold back on any further expansion plans for the next five years.

With Ridley Chairman Byng Giraud (who is also VP of Corporate affairs for Woodfibre LNG) explaining to the Globe writer, of the need for Ridley to remain flexible, holding out the possibility of ramping up expansion plans once again, should coal prices rebound and conditions in the industry improve.

Mr. Jang offers up a view of dwindling shipments and idle machinery at the Ridley Island Terminal, as the supply of coal from Northeast Coal fields and elsewhere continues to decline.

With the Globe article making note that over the first ten months of 2014, shipments out of Ridley Terminals have declined some 38 per cent from this time last year.

A review of the RTI Shipment schedule offers up the listing of only five ships calling on the Terminal between today and December 13th .

The topic of  diminishing coal shipments out of the North east and the impact that those declines could have on RTI was the focus of an item which we posted on the blog on September 12th.

In addition to the background of the pause in expansion, the Globe writer also highlights how the current state of the coal industry is impacting on the plans of the Federal Government to try and sell the Crown owned facility to the private sector.

A prospect that has diminished as prospective buyers step back for the moment to wait to see how the markets shall evolve in the years to come. A prospect that for the moment, does not appear to be heading in a positive direction.

With that in mind, the Globe article points out that with that interest in the terminal slowing down, the market value for any sale is also in decline.

You can review the full article here,  it offers a good guide as to the current situation faced by one of Prince Rupert's largest employers, as well it provides a wealth of background on the troubles of the coal industry at the moment.

For more items related to developments at Ridley Terminals see our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review