Chamber of Commerce president Derek Dougherty thought he'd made a gaffe Thursday, introducing Port of Prince Rupert CEO Don Krusel at a lunch event as being from the Port of Prince George.
Krusel seized on it after taking the podium at Thursday's Chamber Speaker Series event.
"Really, it sort of is. It is the Port of Burns Lake, Houston, Mackenzie, Tumbler Ridge...," he said. "One of the greatest myths being perpetuated these days is that transporting goods through northern B.C. creates no local economic impact. Just ask Jerod if there is any relevance for him," he said flashing a picture on a screen. "He's a CN worker from Smithers. There are 900 CN workers on the north line. There are another 2,200 jobs connected to the movement of those goods - $130 million in wages directly related to the movement of those goods. Nine hundred new jobs were created in the last two years, related to the movement of those goods."
None of that, he added, counts the pan-region economic activity related to the production of those goods. Lumber, coal, minerals, grain, wood pellets, all kinds of mass-shipment resources pass through the Port of Prince Rupert's gates and off into the world. The facility currently hosts about 450 deep-sea vessels each year and the expectation is for 1,200 or more per year within the next decade.
"Without the Port of Prince Rupert you could not coal mine in northeastern B.C. because there wasn't the capacity to transport it, before. Grain farmers didn't have the capacity before our facilities to move their product cost-effectively."
He cited Prince George company Pinnacle Pellet as a prime example. Their business growth was tied heavily to the port - so much so that in the past year they built and opened their own docks and as a result of that facility they were able to also open a new pellet manufacturing plant in Terrace, in partnership with a First Nation. The spinoff effects of his port, he said, was influencing the economy of almost every town in the region.
The growth of the port has been exponential in the past 10 years and will remain high in the next decade, bringing growing pains with it, said Krusel. The main concern for port officials, and community stakeholders on the north coast, is marine safety. The plans are already active to implement traffic-flow protocols and incident response protocols.
The main advantage they've had all along, said Krusel - a senior administrator with the port authority since 1987 and CEO since 1992 - is the ability to plan. The layout of the port and the time frames involved in its development have allowed administrators and stakeholders and government to hone the designs.
"Trade is what creates prosperity for us. We need to look to Asia for that," he said. "Our infrastructure at the port is there to help that grow. As the closest North American port to Asia, our future in northern B.C. is very bright."
