Container traffic, especially when it’s disrupted, may get the bulk of the attention at Port Metro Vancouver (PMV) but it’s bulk and break-bulk – the transportation of goods like sulphur, coal and wheat that aren’t put into containers – that make up more than 80% of goods, by weight, that pass through the port.
And the port’s biggest growth opportunities, according to Robin Silvester, PMV’s president and CEO, are in the export of coal, potash, grain and other commodities.
Bulk transport has its challenges too.
This winter, a bumper crop of grain coupled with bad weather caused a shipping bottleneck that cost shippers tens of millions of dollars. Grain wasn’t being moved, and ships ended up at anchor until shipments arrived in the port.
As many as 45 ships were waiting to load – mainly grain but also some coal – at one point, said Stephen Brown, president of the Chamber of Shipping of BC, which represents shipping companies operating in British Columbia.
Harsh weather forces Canada’s railway companies to shorten their trains and slow them down. This year the bad weather came at a time when a bumper grain crop that increased volumes by close to 40% needed to be moved. The impact on Prairie grain farmers was so bad, the federal government ordered railway companies to increase grain shipments.
Canadian National Railway (TSX:CNR) added 500 grain cars to its fleet in the first quarter of this year and increased its crews by 5% to cope with the increased demand. But Canada’s other railway, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (TSX:CP), has been cutting its workforce – a move that CP confirmed has resulted in 4,700 to 4,800 railway jobs being eliminated since 2012.
Patricia Mohr, a commodities analyst for Scotiabank, said railway companies in Canada simply don’t have enough locomotives to handle the current demand for moving Canadian commodities.
But CP spokesman Ed Greenberg said adding additional locomotives and cars won’t necessarily increase the speed or volume of exports if Vancouver ports aren’t working at full capacity.
CP operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In a review of Vancouver ports, Greenberg said the railway found that only one of five terminals in Vancouver operate three shifts, seven days a week. The others operate three shifts per day, five days a week or two shifts per day, seven days a week, CP told a federal Agriculture Committee in April.
“Additional capacity can be brought on line, if rail cars are unloaded seven days a week, 24 hours a day, instead of a car sitting waiting to be loaded or unloaded,” Greenberg said.
Brown said the last winter underscores what appears to be a more systemic problem.
“This is the third consecutive year that we’ve seen these problems over the winter now,” he said. “It’s been compounded, of course, by the truck drivers’ strike, which has made things even worse.”
“What this last winter has done is to really underline the fragility of our supply chain,” Brown added.
PMV aims to increase rail corridor capacity into the port at Roberts Bank and the north and south shores of Burrard Inlet by between 60% and 100% by early 2015.
But if bottlenecks at Vancouver ports continue to cost shipping companies money, they may take their business elsewhere, Brown said, citing Tacoma, Seattle and Prince Rupert as ports that are all “hungry” for business.
“If the problems continue, that will happen,” Brown warned. •
More than 2,200 longshoremen call Port Metro Vancouver home.
While about 250 of them have regular postings, the remaining longshoremen descend upon the dispatch hall (called Despatch Centre as a throwback to the city’s British maritime heritage) hoping to pick up a shift. Work is never a sure thing.
The hall, which is divided in half to separate union members and casual workers, begins filling up more than an hour before the jobs go live.
Throngs of longshoremen chat with union “brothers” and “sisters” while waiting to find out if they have a gig.
Casuals may show up at the dispatch centre for more than a decade before qualifying for the union.
Bobby Lehal
It’s about 2:30 p.m. when Bobby Lehal arrives at the longshoremen’s dispatch hall hidden behind the Waldorf Hotel in Vancouver’s east side.
A smattering of casual workers – non-union members who are picked last for work – swipe their ID cards at a computer terminal inside the nondescript building to “plug in” and see if they can pick up an assignment at 3 p.m.
Lehal’s name pops up on the “C” board, one of the monitors listing where exactly the casuals rank in terms of job assignments.
The most senior casuals appear on the “A” board, while new workers start on the “R” board.
For a closer look at Bobby Lehal's story, click here.
Cynthia Brooke
After spending a decade working at Port Metro Vancouver facilities, Cynthia Brooke doesn’t take even a second to contemplate what her favourite job might be.
“Stevedoring,” the 48-year-old said.
But it’s been six years since the last time she’s been in that role, loading and unloading goods from docked ships.
She had been going about her day normally at the port facilities when a crane carrying cargo swung into her and pinned her against equipment.
“I was crushed,” the Vancouver woman recalled.
“My pelvis was broken in three places, my spine was broken … and I had a head injury.”
For more on Cynthia Brooke's story, click here.
Jyalmen Sidhho
Across from Jyalmen Sidhho’s desk at the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU)office in East Vancouver hangs a framed drawing of a man baring his chest inside a wrestling ring.
A closer inspection reveals it’s Sidhho in the picture – a tribute to the ILWU secretary-treasurer’s days as a professional wrestler in the ’70s and ’80s.
To read more about Jyalman Sidhho's story, click here.
Business In Vancouver examines life at Port Metro Vancouver, where one stevedore was severely injured and made a career transition years later.
To view the video, click here.
