The Port of Prince Rupert is a

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

managed by the Prince Rupert Port Authority that occupies of land and water along of waterfront. The port is located in

Prince Rupert Harbour A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

in the

North Coast Regional District The North Coast Regional District (until 2016 known as the Skeena–Queen Charlotte Regional District) is a quasi-municipal administrative area in British Columbia. It is located on British Columbia's west coast and includes Haida Gwaii (formerl ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. The Port of Prince Rupert is the third busiest seaport in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

by container volume and cargo tonnage after the

Port of Vancouver The Port of Vancouver is the largest port in Canada and the fourth largest in North America by tonnes of cargo, facilitating trade between Canada and more than 170 world economies. The port is managed by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, whic ...

and

Port of Montreal The Port of Montreal (french: Port de Montréal) ( ACI Canadian Port Code: 0395, UN/LOCODE: CA MTR) is a cruise and transshipment point located on the St. Lawrence River in Montreal, Québec, Canada. The port operates as an international contai ...

History

Early 20th century

The Port of Prince Rupert was built upon the completion of the

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway running from Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a Pacific coast port. East of Winnipeg the line continued as the National Tra ...

in 1914 and its development had been promoted by

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rail ...

president

Charles Melville Hays Charles Melville Hays (May 16, 1856 – April 15, 1912) was the president of the Grand Trunk Railway. He began working in the railroad business as a clerk at the age of 17 and quickly rose through the ranks of management to become the General M ...

as an alternative to the Port of Vancouver, which was serviced by the

Canadian Pacific The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

and

Canadian Northern The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Ma ...

railways. In 1919, the Grand Trunk Pacific fell into bankruptcy and was

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...

by the federal government and merged into the Canadian National Railways (CNR). The port was expanded during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

to support Canadian and

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

military action in the Pacific Theatre, notably in the

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

Territory.

Late 20th century

In 1975, the federal government declared the Port of Prince Rupert a "National Harbour", followed by several years of construction of various facilities such as the Fairview Terminal and Ridley Terminals. A 1989 expansion of the Fairview Terminal added a third berth and 6.5 ha of storage area. In 1989, 1,705 total vessels, including 468 deep sea vessels, with 11,332,000 tonnes of cargo move through the port. Since 1982

Aquatrain The Aquatrain (or AquaTrain) was an unpowered unmanned sea-going rail barge operated by Canadian National Railway (CN) between Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada, and the Alaska Railroad in Whittier, Alaska, United States. It is the largest ...

barge carries rail cargo between Prince Rupert and

Whittier, Alaska Whittier is a city at the head of the Passage Canal in the U.S. state of Alaska, about southeast of Anchorage. The city is within the Chugach Census Area, one of the two entities established in 2019 when the former Valdez–Cordova Census Ar ...

Conversion to an intermodal terminal

In April 2005, it was announced that the Fairview Terminal would be converted into an

intermodal container An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, is a large standardized shipping container, designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport – from ship ...

shipping terminal, given Prince Rupert's advantages of having a location along the Pacific

Great Circle Route Great-circle navigation or orthodromic navigation (related to orthodromic course; from the Greek ''ορθóς'', right angle, and ''δρóμος'', path) is the practice of navigating a vessel (a ship or aircraft) along a great circle. Such rou ...

between

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and the west coast of North America; which makes it the first inbound and last outbound port of call, as well as having the deepest natural harbour depths on the continent.''"Prince Rupert Container Terminal Opening New World of Opportunities"''
- Western Economic Diversification Canada - September 12, 2007 Because the port at Prince Rupert is closer to Asia on the Pacific Great Circle route, and with the city of Prince Rupert having less municipal congestion than other West Coast ports, additional rail infrastructure investments toward Canada's heartland should cut time from East Asian markets to North American destinations. Sea travel time to the West Coast, time in processing the containers in port, and the time in getting products to the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

would be more efficient. The overall time from ports like

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, Kaohsiung,

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

in Asia and to eventual Midwest destinations like,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, and

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, should see time and cost reductions. On September 12, 2007, phase 1 the Fairview Terminal opened for business and received its first container ship (from

COSCO China Ocean Shipping Company, Limited, formerly China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company, commonly known for its abbreviated name COSCO Group, or simply, COSCO, is a former Chinese Government owned shipping and logistics services supplier compan ...

) in October. Phase 1 has an annual container-handling capacity of only 500,000 TEUs. However Phase 2, planned to be completed late in 2010, will increase the Port of Prince Rupert's capacity to 2 million TEUs, and to 4 million TEUs by 2015, and there is extensive capacity for further expansion. This will provide much-needed relief to the congested west-coast ports of North America. The containerization of the Fairview Terminal is an important part of the

Asia–Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative The Asia–Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative is an integrated set of investment and policy measures of the Canadian federal government that are focused on trade with the Asia–Pacific Region. Asia–Pacific Gateway and Corridor The Asia� ...

of the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

and the Pacific Gateway strategy of the Province of

. The second phase expansion has been protested by some

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

groups, saying that the PRPA failed to consult them. Another group in

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...

is lobbying for the expansion of the Prince Rupert port in order that the port at Delta will not be expanded. On January 23, 2013, federal Environment Minister Peter Kent approved the environmental assessment of the Phase 2 expansion of the terminal. However, there was no set time frame for the construction of Phase 2, as the decision is up to Maher Terminals to proceed. It was noted that the need for expansion does not yet exist as through operation efficiencies achieved by the design of the terminal and the workforce, the actual capacity of the terminal (750,000 TEUs) exceeds current demand. In January 2015 there was a trade dispute when the State of Alaska had solicited for bids for a ferry terminal update. The project was seeking U.S. Federal funds which required that the project comply with the Buy America provision. The Canadian Government blocked the project and the state of Alaska canceled bids because a temporary solution could not be reached.

Governance

The Prince Rupert Port Authority was created on May 1, 1999 and succeeds the Prince Rupert Port Corporation (PRPC). Prince Rupert was among 8 national ports in Canada which implemented this administrative change on this date, as required by the

Canada Marine Act The ''Canada Marine Act'' (CMA; french: Loi maritime du Canada) (the Act) was passed in 1998 under the stewardship of David Collenette, who was Canada's Minister of Transport at that time. It was intended to modernize Canada's most important port ...

which passed on June 11, 1998. PRPC was the successor to the National Harbours Board, which previously operated all federally owned ports in Canada. PRPA reports to the

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

and has a Board of Directors typically consisting of local business and community figures. In the past, the appointment process to the boards of Canada's port authorities has been criticized as they have frequently been used for political patronage.

Facilities

MV Opportunity at the Ridley Island Grain Terminal

PRPA port facilities include: * Atlin Terminal * Northlands Cruise Terminal * Lightening Dock * Ocean Dock * Pinnacle Pellet Terminal * Fairview Terminal * Prince Rupert Grain * Ridley Terminals *Westview Wood Pellet Terminal All PRPA facilities are serviced by

CN Rail The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

. With the completion of Phase 2, the port has a capacity of 2,000 kTEUs. For comparison, the

handles 2,500 kTEUs of cargo.

Pacific Port Volumes

Cargo handled expressed in the number of 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) and million metric tonnes (MMT). Statistics for American ports are excluded, because of inconsistencies among various web pages. The major differences may be due to the inclusion of empty containers shipped.

Funding for Container Terminal

The Canadian $170 million terminal project, with a design capacity of 500,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) has been funded by five partners: * Maher Terminals, $60 million, including the three super-post panamax cranes *

Western Economic Diversification Canada In Canada, the Regional Development Agencies (RDA) are the seven federal government agencies responsible for addressing key economic challenges and furthering economic development, diversification, and job creation specific to their respective regi ...

, $30 million *

Province of British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

, $30 million *

, $25 million towards the terminal's rail-related infrastructure * Prince Rupert Port Authority, $25 million

References

External links

International Shipping in British Columbia

Chamber of Shipping (BC): ''BC Ports handbook''
(pdf, 258 p.) {{Ports of Canada Port authorities in Canada Ports and harbours of British Columbia Transport in Prince Rupert, British Columbia