Canadas Fairview eyes lucrative Asia trade

“We will be able to offer both Asian and North American shippers unparalleled reliability, efficiency and speed in moving their products through our port,” says Don Krusel, Rupert Port Authority chief executive.

With Western ports already congested with increasing Asian trade, Prince Rupert claims it will allow Canadian products to reach Asia two to three days faster than any other West Coast port. The port is congestion free and is already linked to the Canadian National railway.

“Our stars have aligned,” says Mr Krusel, noting the convergence of the private-public partnership to finance and complete the port on schedule and on budget.

The $170m project was funded by Canada’s governments, British Columbia, CN, the port authority and Maher Terminals. Concession holder Maher Terminals hopes that Prince Rupert will soon become a major North American cargo gateway.

“We were aware of the skepticism because the conventional port model is to build near large concentrated urban areas and not in isolated areas with no local markets,” explains Brian Maher. “But our family has been in the terminal operations business long enough to know a good thing when we see it.”