News / Prince Rupert port in new push to win traffic following capacity hike

Boosted by a fresh injection of handling capacity, DP World’s Prince Rupert Port has reminded North American shippers of other capacity options, should regional port congestion become an issue later this year.

“We have plenty of room and capability to handle what may come through,” DP World Canada chief executive Doug Smith told The Loadstar Podcast on the sidelines of this year’s S&P TPM event in Long Beach.

Prince Rupert’s Fairview container terminal recently completed an expansion programme that has taken the port’s annual capacity to 1.6m teu, although Mr Smith said efficiency initiatives were always under way to increase throughput potential.

“We are always working on the optimisation of the network to make sure we have a complete match of rail availability with vessel availability,” he said.

Purpose-built to emulate the long distance, intermodal reach of the Los Angeles-Long Beach complex, the key to Prince Rupert’s success as an alternative gateway is the match-up between container terminal, intermodal carrier Canadian National and inland destination facilities.

“It’s important that you look beyond the port,” explained Mr Smith.

“Our focus is to grow the Canadian economy, and that means you partner with rail, hauliers, inland container depots – it doesn’t matter if you grow your volumes to 3m teu, if the railways cannot get it out.

“And we see these as dynamic relationships. There are peaks and valleys, but the question is managing these, and that we keep working together to make services consistent.

“We are also focused on what the BCO needs. For example, we have a lot of automotive parts that have a different need from other commodities – so we are managing the partnerships with [lines, hinterland transport and inland destinations] and balancing that with the needs of the customer – and that is a very specific service that we are able to offer,” he said.

In conjunction with Canadian National, the terminal offers shippers an expedited rail service for “a certain container, or commodity, or group of commodities, we can bring these ahead and deliver a little faster, based on communications with customers and the needs across the chain”.

To find out more about DP World’s Prince Rupert Terminal visit www.dpworldcanada.com/prince-rupert-terminal/