Port of Vancouver: Potential container terminal expansion delay and supply chain impacts

Increased container imports and supply chain issues over the past two years have highlighted the importance to expand the Port of Vancouver (and Port of Prince Rupert) container terminal capacity. RCC has supported the Port of Vancouver’s Roberts Bank Terminal 2 proposal as a solution. If Roberts Bank Terminal 2 is turned down by the current (Environmental) Impact Assessment Agency of Canada process, there could be more than a decade of capacity restraint until another project is approved.

Global Container Terminals (GCT) has proposed a much smaller expansion of one of their own terminals and stymied the approval process for the Port’s expansion. GCT’s tactics have focused on potential environmental impacts – although their proposal would also have significant environmental impacts.

RCC is supportive of the Port’s proposal for many reasons, including: the GCT proposal would increase GCT’s already-dominant share (70%) of container terminal capacity at the Port of Vancouver (which could alleviate pressure on container terminal costs/charges); lesser impact on the environment; significantly larger new capacity than the GCT counter-proposal; the Port expansion is nearly through the process while a potential GCT expansion will need to go through the entire environmental impact process, potentially causing significant delays to any expansion. RCC encourages members to write letters of support to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada to demonstrate the retail industry’s support of container terminal expansion.