Does British Columbia need additional capacity at both Vancouver and Prince Rupert?

British Columbia’s (BC) container ports could be a bright spot in what is shaping up as a bleak year for the Canadian economy in 2016. The country’s economic growth is expected to be less than 1.7%, as the falling price of oil undermines its main export commodity. Demand for imports is expected to be subdued, as the Canadian dollar had fallen from parity with the US dollar in 2013, to under 69 cents by mid-January, its lowest level in 13 years. The upside of a weaker currency is that it makes container terminal charges in Vancouver and Prince Rupert much lower than US gateways. Coming at a time when carriers are desperate to cut costs, this should be a significant boost to cross-border intermodal volumes”.

Originally published in the Vancouver Sun.

A Canadian National train carrying grain snakes its way along the Thompson River near Ashcroft, its cars stretching for miles through the low-rolling hills.

One day that train could potentially stop right there and unload, smack in the middle of Bob Landucci’s 130-hectare sage-cleared site in B.C.’s Interior. Indeed, that’s his intention once he gets the facility, dubbed the Ashcroft Terminal, running with everything from fleet management to transmodal and bulk transloading services.

Published originally in the Delta Optimist.

Editor:

Re: Ashcroft isn't a realistic option for supply chain, letter to the editor, March 6

It was discouraging to read that a large, publiclytraded American company is challenging the logistics of Ashcroft Terminal as a solution to container congestion in the Lower Mainland.

Originally published in the Richmond News.

Supporting an Interior rail container terminal could ease truck traffic in Metro Vancouver and help mitigate the desire to develop the region's limited farmland for industrial purposes.

That’s what Bob Landucci, president and CEO of the recently expanded Ashcroft Terminal, contended in a presentation to Richmond city councillors Monday evening.

Originally published in the Richmond Review

Shipping more containers to an inland port in B.C. could ease development pressure on Richmond farmland, city council heard Monday.

Civic politicians invited representatives from Ashcroft Terminal to Richmond City Hall to pitch the merits of the inland port nearly 350 kilometres away. Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said it’s in Richmond’s interest to encourage Ashcroft’s development to stem Port Metro Vancouver expansion.

“We see what’s happening with the port as ultimately encroaching on agricultural land, their insatiable appetite for more industrial land,” said Brodie, adding a new $2-billion bridge is also planned in part to handle truck traffic growth.