PortCity: What's Up, Docks?
Deltaport sticks out into the Georgia Strait like a hatpin – a squarish man-made island tethered to the coast by its thin causeway. On the west side of the island, great dunes of sooty coal await loading onto Pacific-bound freighters.
On the east side, steel shipping containers stuffed with the inbound bounty of Asian factories sit stacked like giant Lego. It’s hard to imagine a more jarring contrast to the port’s scenic backdrop. Just metres from the causeway lie the tidal flats of Roberts Bank, one of the world’s richest habitats for migratory birds. Looking north, you can see the Vancouver skyline dwarfed by the North Shore mountains.
The port was never designed to look anything but industrial, and yet, to the province’s and country’s business leaders, it’s a thing of beauty. Deltaport is a key part of the ambitious Asia Pacific Gateway strategy to move more goods through B.C. at a time when the whole west coast of North America is racing to do the same. Port cities such as Seattle, Tacoma, Oakland, Los Angeles and others are all spending billions to upgrade their transportation networks. Each locale is trying to lure a bigger share of the tsunami of Asian trade that has already been stymied by port congestion. Our province, for its part, plans to triple the number of containers handled by its ports by 2020, which means billions to be spent on road and rail upgrades, as well as the expansion of ports such as the one in Delta. Prince Rupert’s port is another key part of the game plan.
But for all the promises of jobs, cheaper goods and increased economic activity, this is no Field of Dreams. Building infrastructure does not guarantee a Hollywood ending. Shipping is a competitive business, and companies will always move goods through the ports that serve their needs best. It is also a dirty business. Busier ports mean more diesel fumes polluting the air, trucks clogging the roads and distribution centres gobbling swaths of land. Communities that neighbour ports are balking at the idea that the growth in port activity should be unrestrained – and so, as retailers and shipping companies clamour to alleviate the continent’s transportation bottlenecks, they’re meeting heavy resistance. Unless ports can figure out how to suppress the damage they do, the pipeline to Asia won’t get much bigger. For B.C. the question is whether it can achieve its Gateway ambitions at a cost its citizens are willing to pay.
Kevin Falcon, the province’s transportation minister, is easily the Gateway’s biggest champion. That’s little surprise, given that it’s his baby; he hatched the idea and brought it to the premier in 2004. Since then the federal government has jumped on board, as have private-sector partners, including Canadian Pacific Railway Co. (CP) (CP-T) and Canadian National Railway Co. (CN) (CNR-T). Falcon proudly compares the Gateway to far-sighted infrastructure projects such as the St. Lawrence Seaway and the rail and hydroelectric projects of former premier W.A.C. Bennett. (Ironically, it was Falcon’s government that essentially sold off Bennett’s baby, BC Rail Ltd., to CN in 2003.)
As Asia has become the world’s factory floor, Falcon sees opportunity knocking at B.C.’s door. “The Asian-North American trade corridor is becoming very, very critical,” he says. “And here is British Columbia with the most incredible geographical positioning: the closest piece of real estate to Asia.” The province’s goal is to pump up B.C.’s share of West Coast-bound containers to 17 per cent by 2020 – up from its current nine per cent market share. Most of that new traffic will move through upgraded ports at Deltaport and Prince Rupert, with the province committing $500 million to Prince Rupert alone.
Falcon recognizes achieving such ambitions won’t be easy. Lower Mainland community groups have fought back, citing potential environmental damage and congestion caused by port activity, and First Nation groups want a say in development in Prince Rupert. And other West Coast ports see opportunity to expand as well. “We’re up against competitors that are tough,” Falcon says. “We just think that by working co-operatively with the private sector and different levels of government, we’re probably able to move a lot more quickly.”
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