VANCOUVER: That statement by Alastair Smith, chief marketing and sales officer at the Port of Vancouver, embodies the spirit of excitement and opportunity that pervades the port’s staff. In 2014, the port handled the most tonnage ever – 6.6 million metric tons (a 47 percent increase over 2013) – and generated $37.5 million in operating revenue (a 25 percent increase over 2013). Significant increases in grain exports and steel and wind energy imports formed the foundation of the record-setting year, with 35 percent more vessels and 23 percent more rail cars moving cargo to and from the port in 2014. Steel volume alone increased 495 percent. More than 56,000 rail cars moved through the port last year, thanks to increased rail capacity from the port’s West Vancouver Freight Access project.
While these numbers are impressive, the economic impact behind them is even more so. More than 2,300 people are directly employed by port tenants, while port activities generate $1.6 billion in economic benefit to the region and support almost 17,000 jobs throughout the community. The port itself recently added about 20 new employees, bringing the total to 120.
“We’re getting busier,” said Smith. “We need staff to handle that. Plus, we’re looking at growing in different directions, and increasing our footprint in the industrial sector and on the waterfront.” RailwaysBut the port is more than just numbers; it’s cranes and ships, and trains and trucks; it’s roasted malt that’s used in the microbrew you had last night; it’s fertilizer and wheat, and so much more. A virtual tour will help bring the port to life.
Terminal One
This is where it all started over 100 years ago – the beams you see in the Red Lion at the Quay came from the port’s original warehouse. Today, Pacific Coast Shredding (which handles about 500,000 tons of scrap metal annually), Northwest Packing Co., Great Western Malting Co. and United Grain Corp. are the tenants here. Northwest Packing recently renewed their lease for another 10 years. United Grain (whose grain elevator was built in 1934) handles 16 percent of U.S. wheat exports and has responded to global market demands by expanding their silo capacity to handle more soybeans and corn – increasing their throughput from 3.1 million tons to 5.5 million.
Terminal Two
This is where you’ll find the port’s two mobile harbor cranes – each sporting 80 rubber tires – busy loading and unloading heavy cargo such as wind energy components (these can be 130 feet long and weigh 100 tons) or several slabs of steel in one bite. The port was the first on the West Coast to purchase such cranes (one in 2006 and the second in 2008), and the first to train operators in the complex choreography of tandem and engineered lifts.
“It was a niche [for a long time],” said Smith. “Now people are copying us.”
Because the cranes can carry more than a standard crane, they help lower the cost of handling the bulk exports that travel through this terminal. NuStar Energy Inc. is an example of how versatile the port is, handling commodities ranging from fertilizer and sodium hydroxide to jet fuel and methanol.
