Maher proceeding with terminal expansion at Port of Prince Rupert

A second berth at Fairview Container Terminal in British Columbia will grow capacity to 1.3 million TEUs.

   Maher Terminals, operator of the Port of Prince Rupert’s Fairview Container Terminal, on Tuesday announced it will proceed with expansion of the 7-year-old facility, increasing its container capacity by 500,000 TEUs to 1.3 million TEUs.
   Maher awarded the construction contract to FRPD-BEL Gateway Joint Venture as the prime contractor. The cost of the expansion is an estimated $200 million Canadian (U.S. $158 million), including funds for new container cranes. Construction will begin immediately and is scheduled for completion in mid-2017.
   The project will provide a second deep-water berth, four additional gantry cranes, and land reclamation to further expand the container yard. The cranes will be large enough to handle the largest container ships.
   “Intermodal customers have been capitalizing on the advantages of Prince Rupert as part of their transpacific trade solution since Fairview’s first phase opened in 2007,” said Don Krusel, president and CEO of the Prince Rupert Port Authority. “We’re very pleased to see Maher Terminals continue delivering on the vision of fast, reliable container service — while creating new opportunities for the workers, communities and nations who benefit from this trade gateway.”
   Krusel said the new terminal will create opportunities for the port to receive ships from other alliances and larger containerships. Today there are three strings operated by members the CKYHE Alliance and China Shipping that call the port. Krusel said the new terminal could result in an additional two or three services calling the port.
   On-dock rail trackage will also be expanded through “densification” of the current track configuration, which will be supported by a rubber-tired gantry crane operation.
   The terminal in northern British Columbia is unusual in that all cargo discharged from ships is loaded on intermodal trains operated by the Canadian National Railway, destined for markets in central Canada and the U.S. Midwest. About 60-70 percent of the imports through the port go to the U.S.
   Exports are dominated by Canadian grain and wood products, but also include automobile parts, scrap metal and waste paper.
   Krusel said the railroad is only operating at about 25-30 percent of capacity to the port, so it should be able to handle expanded volumes of containers as well as other commodities such as grain.
   In 2014, Prince Rupert handled 618,167 TEUs, 15 percent more than in 2013 and volumes have soared so far this year, in part because of turmoil at U.S. ports on the West Coast during the labor contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and employers.
   Krusel said the port should be able to continue to grow over the next couple of years as construction on the Fairview expansion proceeds, but added the second berth will come “none too soon.”
   Maher opened the terminal in 2007, the same year it was acquired by RREEF Infrastructure, an investment arm of Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Bank has reportedly been looking for a buyer for Maher, which also operates a container terminal in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the largest such facility in the Port of New York and New Jersey. In January, Deutsche Bank announced a 194 million euro ($207 million) impairment for Maher Terminals in the fourth quarter when it announced its earnings for 2014.