Rail cars with shipping containers sit ready to depart the Fairview Container Terminal, the first dedicated ship-to-rail terminal in North America, in the Port of Prince Rupert, B.C., in July.James MacDonald
The northern B.C. port city of Prince Rupert is awaiting Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit on Thursday as the economic spotlight is shone on a region planning for an export boom to Asia.
He is expected to announce a new round of what he has described as projects of national significance, to be prioritized for fast-tracking by the newly created Major Projects Office. The federal government opened the office in Calgary in August.
Mr. Carney is expected to add at least four mining and energy developments to the government’s major projects list, The Globe and Mail reported on Tuesday.
The list includes the Ksi Lisims liquefied natural gas project in British Columbia, Ontario’s Crawford nickel project, New Brunswick’s Sisson mine and a hydroelectric project in Iqaluit, two sources said, adding that the list was subject to change.
The Globe is not identifying the sources because they were not authorized to disclose the details publicly.
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As the U.S. trade war persists, Ottawa has been striving to smooth the way for economic diversification and reducing dependence on American customers.
BC Hydro is proposing the North Coast Transmission Line project, in collaboration with First Nations, that would run along the route of its current line between Prince George and Terrace in British Columbia.
Details to be worked out include how the estimated $6-billion in capital costs would be financed for the new transmission line. With the eventual addition of spur lines, the goal is to supply or increase electricity to customers such as the Port of Prince Rupert, mining companies and the proposed Ksi Lisims project.
The Port of Prince Rupert has several projects already under construction, big and small. They include a $1.35-billion terminal to export energy products such as propane to Asia, a $750-million export logistics project called Canxport, and a $117-million import logistics and warehousing complex at a site owned by the Metlakatla First Nation.
The Ridley Island Energy Export Facility (REEF), co-owned by Calgary-based AltaGas Ltd. and Netherlands-based Royal Vopak NV, is touted as a prime example of a project that would help Canada diversify to Asia while weaning off reliance on the United States.
Shaun Stevenson, chief executive officer of the Prince Rupert Port Authority, said REEF would expand the port’s capacity for exporting liquefied petroleum gas such as propane and butane.
“We’re focusing on executing right now as opposed to presenting concepts,” Mr. Stevenson said in an interview.
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For the long term, there are plans to increase container capacity, with the operator of the existing Fairview terminal, Dubai-based DP World, lined up to run a potential second container site.
“We’re working with DP World right now to assess and understand the future growth and market opportunity to validate that there’s a business case to move forward with the second terminal,” said Mr. Stevenson, who will be retiring at the end of this year. He joined the port in 1997 and has served as CEO since 2018.
Prince Rupert itself has missed out on being B.C.’s hub for exporting LNG. But there are plans by the nearby Nisga’a Nation to help construct Ksi Lisims and the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline that would transport natural gas from northeast B.C. to Nisga’a territory.
Ksi Lisims is facing two separate legal challenges in Federal Court, with one launched by the Lax Kw’alaams Band and the other by the Metlakatla. Prince Rupert is situated on the traditional territory of the Coast Tsimshian, including the Lax Kw’alaams and Metlakatla.
The first five designated major projects announced in September were LNG Canada’s Phase 2 expansion of its terminal on the Haisla Nation’s traditional territory in Kitimat, B.C., increased container capacity at the Port of Montreal, small modular nuclear reactors in Ontario and mining ventures in Saskatchewan and B.C.
Haisla members vehemently opposed now-defunct plans for the Northern Gateway oil pipeline that sought to locate the export terminal in Kitimat.
Given the opposition in Kitimat to oil exports originating from Alberta, attention has turned to Prince Rupert. “If there is something that’s identified regarding an oil pipeline to Prince Rupert, we would be engaged at some point, but at this point we’re not,” Mr. Stevenson said.
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Rob Booker, CEO of Trigon Pacific Terminals Ltd.’s coal facility, said that while there wasn’t anything specific in last week’s federal budget to spur the expansion of liquefied petroleum gas such as propane, he welcomes the general tone of the federal government’s efforts to promote diversification to Asia.
“We’ve got to go out and compete,” he said.
But Mr. Booker said Trigon, which exports coal from Ridley Island at the Port of Prince Rupert, continues to run into roadblocks in seeking to diversify shipments through a proposed $750-million project. Trigon filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court two years ago, claiming that the Prince Rupert Port Authority reneged on a leasing arrangement that would have allowed Trigon to expand into other commodities such as propane.
The second tranche of major projects is expected to be geographically spread out across the country, with representation in Western Canada, Central Canada and the East Coast.
On the West Coast, the Port of Vancouver has been promoting its $3.5-billion Roberts Bank Terminal 2 container project, to be located on an artificial island near Delta, B.C.
A competing proposal by Global Container Terminals Inc. is seeking to expand capacity at its three-berth Deltaport facility, with a planned fourth berth.
With reports from Stephanie Levitz, Robert Fife and Bill Curry