Port Authority advances plans for Ridley corridor, as Dutch giant Vopak looks to expand its footprint in Prince Rupert

Prince Rupert may have come up a bit short in the Northwest LNG sweepstakes of recent years, but when it comes to other shipments of liquids and byproduct of the Alberta and BC oil and gas industry, Ridley Island is quickly becoming the go to destination for bulk shipment terminals.

One more proposed project has been added to the growing inventory of projects for the Ridley industrial corridor, with the globally known Dutch company Vopak looking to build its own storage capacity for a range of products in the Ridley Road, Rail and Utility Corridor.

The Ridley Island Road, Rail and Utility Corridor could soon see 
more development as Vopak explores its plans for Prince Rupert
(photo from Port of Prince Rupert website)

The name Vopak may sound familiar to North Coast residents, it currently is part of the AltaGas LPG terminal project that is getting closer to completion and almost ready for shipments out of the North Coast in early 2019.

Some notes on Vopak's accelerating interest in Prince Rupert came during last month's Port of Prince Rupert Annual Public Meeting, when Shaun Stevenson, the Port's recently announced President and CEO made note that from their involvement with AltaGas, Vopak had begun to vigorously explore the potential for their own larger scale liquid bulk export facility at Ridley Island.

Observing during his presentation of June, how the port was "excited about this project, we're excited about having a world class proponent like Vopak investigating a project in Prince Rupert and we expect that the environmental process will start this summer"

The Port of Prince Rupert, which is handling the early news flow for the proposed development expanded on that June update with an information statement on Thursday, which charts the early course for Vopak's expanded interest on the North Coast.

Vopak Pacific Canada is proposing to construct, own and operate an ‘open access’ liquid bulk terminal, subject to a robust environmental assessment that would allow the project to proceed. 

The facility will be located on Ridley Island on a site that would be leased from the Prince Rupert Port Authority. VPC has completed a final project description and is nearing the beginning of its environmental assessment, including an initial public comment period. 

The proponents current work includes early consultation with local First Nations, municipalities and other local stakeholders.

You can gain a bit better understanding of the global reach of the Dutch industrial giant from their website, which outlines the scope of their many shipping and storage interests world wide.

With Vopak now looking to develop their own footprint on Ridley Island we will track future notes from this archive page.

For a wider overview of projects and plans from the Port of Prince Rupert see our archive page here.


Cross posted from the North Coast Review