Containers rule! But Diversification helping drive Port of Prince Rupert to record levels

It was another strong year of performance for the Port of Prince Rupert,
with the Port Authority releasing its review of 2017 this week.

The Port of Prince Rupert has reviewed the numbers for 2017 and as December came to a close for global shipping numbers, the Port's various terminals continued to push a pace that is taking the Port into record levels of volume.

The second berth at Fairview is
pushing the Container Terminal
towards record levels of shipments

In a media release from Wednesday, Port officials took note of some of the performance highlights from 2017.

From that review,  the addition of extra capacity through a second berth at the Fairview Container Terminal has clearly helped to cement the status of the container shipment industry as a key component of Port development and future growth.

With the final numbers coming in from 2017, the ports throughput of containers at Fairview has seen a Sixty percent increase from the year before. 

From the expansion of the container terminal, DP World was able to  move 926,540 TEU's through the Northwest Gateway in 2017.

As for Total Cargo shipped through the range of terminal facilities of the Port of Prince Rupert, those numbers reached a record value of 24.1 million tonnes last year.

In addition to the success of the Fairview Facility, a number of other Port facilities found strong results in the year just ended.

Ridley Terminals also saw a rebound in coal shipments in 2017 with the shipment of 7.6 million tonnes a 90 percent increase from 2016.

Volumes continue to increase
at the Westview Pellet Terminal

Pellet shipments through Westview Terminal also saw significant increases with 1.1 million tonnes shipped in 2017, a 22 percent increase from the year before, with the Westview Terminal claiming almost half of all of Canada's entire wood pellet production.

Some transportation issues across the prairies have resulted in a slight decrease in 2017 Grain shipments, but grain terminal shipment facilities still exceeded a total of 5 million tonnes for the fifth straight year.

Grain volumes should improve in 2018 with the new RayMont Logistics Terminal expanding on its shipment levels to compliment the existing infrastructure at Ridley Terminals.

The Cruise industry on the North Coast also found a strong rebound in 2017 with over 16,000 visitors arriving at the Northland Cruise Terminal a number that is more than double the totals from 2016.

Port Chair Bud Smith observed that the strong diversification of shipments through the Northwest positions the Port of Prince Rupert to take advantage of expanded volumes in the years ahead.

“The increasingly diversified nature of the gateway, combined with terminal expansion and the introduction of new logistics services, is paying dividends to Canadians,” said Bud Smith, Chair of the Prince Rupert Port Authority. “The Port of Prince Rupert remains well-positioned to accommodate growth of Canadian trade in the Asia-Pacific region, and we continue to advance expansion that will see us become Canada’s second largest port by volume in the next decade.”

You can review the Port's observations on 2017 here.

A wider overview of their Performance notes through to the end of November can be reviewed here.

For more items of note related to Port activities see our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.