Port Metro Vancouver calls for collaboration

The port president and CEO, Robin Silvester, highlighted the decreasing supply of trade enabling industrial land as the largest threat facing trade gateway at the Vancouver Board of Trade on 27 November.

He said: “The Asia-Pacific Gateway is crucial to the future of British Columbia and Canada, and touches all our lives. Without a secure base of trade-enabling industrial land, we literally risk hitting an economic brick wall.”

“The provincial government has always been a strong partner in the development of the gateway. We must now come together, along with local and regional government, to protect our land in a coordinated fashion.”

The speech threatened that an estimated US$17bn of investment in infrastructure and 57,000 port-related jobs would be at risk if there is insufficient land to support future goods movement.

“This is an urgent issue that requires action now,” said Mr Silvester. “We recently commissioned a study by Site Economics to look at available trade-enabling industrial land in the Lower Mainland, and look forward to releasing that study and more information next week.”

A long-term planning exercise, Port 2050, has been created to identify the issues surrounding the collaboration. Port Metro Vancouver and stakeholders from local communities, industry, government and First Nations have been engaging in the exercise to develop a shared vision for gateway growth.

Mr Silvester concluded: “We need to take concrete steps together to ensure the Vancouver trade gateway remains sustainable, responsive to Canadian trade demands, and aligned with global market trends. But only through a collaborative approach will that be possible.”