The B.C. Chamber of Commerce delegates were treated to an economic outlay of the natural resource and transportation sector opportunities in northern B.C., which includes bioenergy and access to the Pacific Rim.
Port of Prince Rupert official Andrew Hamilton recounted another record breaking year for its bulk and container-handling facilities. A total of 16.4 million tonnes were processed by the port's terminal operators, an increase of about 35 per cent from 2009.
The growth is largely attributable to increases in coal exports and its container shipments. The port now has four container ships calling weekly at Prince Rupert, up from two the previous year.
Hamilton noted that at a recent shipping event in Los Angeles, someone offered that there must be about 500,000 people in Prince Rupert, then revised the number downward to 100,000. When the observer was told Prince Rupert had a population of 15,000, their jaw dropped to the floor, said Hamilton.
"The message here is that you don't have to be large to be significant," he said.
Hamilton said they expect continued growth in 2011, including from lumber shipments originating in northern B.C.
The container terminal, which has the capacity to handle 500,000 containers, has a phased plan that will see it grow to nearly two million by 2020.
Sinclar Group president Greg Stewart noted that markets in China and Japan are giving north-central B.C. lumber producer's new life.
Last year, B.C. shipped 2.8 billion board feet of lumber to China, nearly double the amount from 2009.
Stewart also expects that bioenergy will become a new sector in north-central B.C., particularly because of the deteriorating pine stands killed by the mountain pine beetle.
Enbridge senior executive John Carruthers outlined his Calgary-based company's $5.5-billion Northern Gateway oil pipeline.
He noted that by accessing new market in Asia, Canadian oil companies could get $3 to $4 more a barrel, which would provide a net benefit of $28 billion to oil producers during the next 10 years. That would also have trickle down benefits to the country, as oil companies would be paying more in royalties and have more money to invest.
Recently, a report by Postmedia news said the Northern Gateway project offered export capacity the Canadian industry does not really need.
That's because Canada is expected to have enough crude oil export capacity given the recent approvals of other pipeline projects to the U.S., including the Enbridge Clipper project and the TransCanada Keystone XL project.
In an interview, Carruthers, president of the Northern Gateway project, said the pipeline to Asia is meant to open up new markets, so there is not excess capacity there.
