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n ever-changing array
of bulk cargo and container
ships frequents Port Metro
Vancouver (PMV). Though the temperate
maritime trade destination handles much
of Canada’s import–export traffic, the
average Canadian barely knows it exists.
A defining feature of Vancouver’s
geography, the sprawling port features
640 kilometres of shoreline. Extending
from the Canada–U.S. border to Burrard
Inlet and Indian Arm, it encompasses the
lower Fraser and Pitt rivers as far as the
Fraser Valley.
It is a pivotal cog in Canada’s
economic engine, handling 19 per cent
of the country’s total trade by value.
North America’s largest exporting port
(by tonnage), it’s also Canada’s biggest
and most diversified—transporting
containers, automobiles, and bulk and
break-bulk cargo, as well as servicing
cruise ships.
With 28 major marine cargo terminals
and three Class I railroads used by CN
Rail and CP Rail, an incredible $184
billion worth of goods traverses the
port annually. Incoming ships offload
containers of everything from consumer
electronics to clothing into storage
yards, from which 70 per cent are
transported inland by train and the
balance by truck. Bulk exports range
from container-loaded (break-bulk)
commodities such as lumber, steel and
machinery to pourable commodities
(bulk) such as coal and grain, which are
conveyed in ships’ holds.
In 2013, the port’s five grain-handling
terminals in the Burrard Inlet inner
harbour, and a sixth located on the
Fraser River, handled 16.1 million
outgoing tonnes of grain. The port is
better known to Prairie farmers than
to most Canadians. However, PMV
senior account representative for
trade development, Doug Mills, said
producers visiting the port are typically
surprised by its size and scope.
“What I hear from the farmers when
they come here is, ‘We had no idea it was
this big, this vast,’” he said.
The scope of the port’s daily reality
came into focus during the 2013–14
transportation crunch that followed the
2013 harvest, bringing the operations of
Canada’s ports into the spotlight.
THE PORT AND THE CRUNCH
The railways absorbed the bulk of farmer
frustration as grain movement slowed
during the winter of 2013–14, but the
spectacle of empty ships queued at
PMV awaiting grain shipments raised
questions about the port authority’s part
in the bottleneck.
Mark Hemmes is president of Quorum
Corporation, which is contracted by
Transport Canada and Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada to monitor theWestern
Canadian grain handling system.
“I would be very much in
disagreement with anybody who is
blaming the port authorities,” he said.
The blame, he said, lies squarely with
five weeks of the worst winter weather
in living memory, bringing rail traffic
to a standstill. Grain company sales
orders made in late November and
early December for ships arriving in
Vancouver at the end of January could
not be stopped. As rail movement
slowed, all parties were forced to wait
out the weather. A pileup of as many as
34 vessels, each with 40,000 to 50,000
tonnes of vacant hold space, waited at
PMV and the Port of Prince Rupert.
Both ports, in conjunction with the
Chamber of Shipping of British Columbia,
went above and beyond the call in
coping, reported Hemmes. As mooring
space dwindled, more anchorages were
created off Vancouver Island so ships
would not be turned away.
Meanwhile, in Eastern Canada, Lake
Superior had frozen solid for the first time
since the 1930s, shutting down outgoing
Port of Thunder Bay grain shipments
almost a week-and-a-half earlier than
usual. The port subsequently had its
latest opening ever on April 23.
When the weather cleared, it was not
merely business as usual.
“The railways were right on the
money. Starting at mid-April and until
today, we’ve been breaking records in
the volume that we’ve been setting,”
said Hemmes, who added that it will
long be argued whether or not federal
legislation prompted the railways to turn
the situation around. “But the fact is, they
did perform.”
Whereas in a typical year PMV will
move between 16 and 17 million tonnes,
it is likely to move 19 million tonnes this
year, and growth in West Coast volume is
the continuing trend.
“It’s all good,” Hemmes said. “In April,
it was doom and gloom. Now, we’ve got
a system that seems to be working.”
Hemmes explained that, while it’s
a passable assumption that the grain
export system strengthened itself as a
result of the crisis, it was already robust.
Thresholds imposed by federal
legislation during the crisis pushed the
railways to use the most efficient origins
and corridors that allow them to meet
volume commitments, which are not
necessarily where the most lucrative
markets are, said Hemmes. He cited
the U.S. as an example, saying one can
understand why railways would be
reticent to put equipment into a corridor
where the car cycle is half as productive as
it is on theWest Coast or in Thunder Bay.
Hemmes said he hopes that, in the
coming months, grain companies and
Fall
2014
grainswest.com
27
Port Metro Vancouver and the future of west coast grain exports
by Ian Doig • Photography courtesy of port metro vancouver
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