Meanwhile in the world beyond parochial politics and government apologies, there is good news for B.C.’s global transportation brand: major players in goods movement see opportunity on the West Coast.
More than just see that opportunity, they are betting big on it.
That is encouraging for B.C., because regardless of how much cheerleading there is over the new clean green economy, it still needs help from the old digging-in-the-dirt economy to pay its bills and source its raw materials. Minerals still need to be mined and goods still need to be moved if anyone is going to have any kind of sustainable career in any digital economy pursuit.
The world’s largest container cargo shipping company and Canada’s second-largest railway know that. That’s in part why Maersk and Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) announced the opening in early September of their new Pacific Transload Express (PTE) container cargo hub to service the Port of Vancouver.
Leaving aside the PTE’s potential for reducing Metro Vancouver traffic congestion by diverting more container cargo from trucks to rail, the project speaks to international shipping’s growing appreciation of B.C. port and Canadian railway advantages in moving transpacific cargo. That movement has, since mid-2020, been hampered by chronic congestion at Los Angeles-Long Beach and other major West Coast U.S. ports as the spike in trade with Asia has worsened container shortages and the already challenging constraints in U.S. trucking capacity and supply chain labour.
The Maersk-CPR initiative is only the latest example of investment in B.C. port infrastructure that is betting on the Canadian option to circumvent U.S. congestion. Vancouver’s GCT Global Container Terminals and Dubai-based DP World have also been investing in B.C. container cargo terminal improvements. These are major international shipping players. They do not wager on multimillion-dollar projects without having good odds of winning.
And their wins here will benefit all of B.C.
