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The Prince Rupert Container Port - Ready to Welcome the World
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For a detailed report on the Prince Rupert Container Port, see Blog No. 6: Prince Rupert - The New World Port
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In my last blog: No. 73 - Passage to Prince Rupert, I concluded with the following sentence:

By this time it was well past 08:00 and the first place I headed was the Prince Rupert Container Port to have a closer look- breakfast would have to wait.

The reason breakfast would have to wait was that the container port was only about one kilometer south of the Alaska Ferry Terminal. Downtown Prince Rupert and breakfast at McDonald's were about 2 kilometers to the north.

During my last visit to Prince Rupert in the spring, access to the container port was closed to the public . The best available view of the container port under construction was from a fish processing plant which was located along the waterfront next to the port.

This vantage point required turning a blind eye to several "No Trespassing" signs and a bit of stealth.

Today I repeated the same routine to reach the vantage point of the container port from the fishery.

With the zoom on my camera, I was able to get some pretty good photos of the nearly completed facility or at least the giant super post panamax cranes which loomed like giants over the port.

I felt a bit like a spy and was relieved that no one from the fishery intercepted my movements.

Upon leaving the grounds of the fishery, I drove down the access road that leads to the container port. The gate which was locked last spring was now open. However, the presence of a manned checkpoint beside the gate seemed like an insurmountable obstacle .

I was pleasantly surprised when the security person informed me that, as of yesterday, an observation point had been made available to the public. It was located in the nearby hills overlooking the port.

With excitement I drove the rest of the access road to the observation point. The view from there could not have been better as the newly constructed port lay just below the spot where I was parked.



Time Line for the new "Intermodal" Prince Rupert Container Port:

September 12, 2007 - official opening ceremony

October 4 - my visit

October 31 - arrival of first container ship

Since I became interested in blogging this topic, I have subscribed to the newsletter of the Prince Rupert Port Authority called "54 North" . The following is an excerpt from the October 2007 newsletter.


Fairview Container Terminal Ramping up Operations
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With the Phase 1 construction project completed on schedule and on budget, the Prince Rupert Fairview Interposal Container Terminal is quickly ramping up to operations mode in anticipation of the scheduled arrival of the first container ship on October 31.
The terminal site has become a beehive of activity as the new 200-strong workforce becomes familiar with Maher Terminals' new equipment on site, including three super post panamax cranes with a 22 container reach, 17 reachstackers to support container yard and intermodal on-dock double stack rail operations, and 34 terminal tractors. In addition, CN is filling part of the 20,000 feet of intermodal trackage on the terminal with many of the 2,200 rail cars that the rail company has acquired, along with 50 new locomotives, specifically to move containers between Prince Rupert and the North American mid west .
While the workforce is new, many of the workers are experienced longshoremen and a core group has been training for months to ensure a smooth start-up. These include the crane operators who have been gaining experience on similar cranes at Maher's terminals in New York and New Jersey.
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Some photos which I have included were taken from posters of the port and the arrival by sea of the three super post panamax cranes. These posters were on exhibit at the grand opening of the CN Intermodal Facility in Prince George in November 2007.

To date there is only one container ship per week which unloads in Prince Rupert. It is part of the COSCO Line, the great Chinese shipping company.

It is wonderful to have COSCO on board, so to speak, but there will have to be more diverse sourcing through Prince Rupert to make this project live up to expectations.

On this morning, it was great to see before me that which I had been writing about in Blog No . 6 - Prince Rupert - The New World Port.

Now, it was time for breakfast and one more Egg McMuffin Meal Deal at McDonald's.

Coming Soon:

Some of you, or perhaps all of you, may be glad to hear this. The next blog will be my final blog of the great Alaska / Yukon adventure.

Heading Home to Prince George