Prince Rupert to pilot screening of US cargo
The port of Prince Rupert is working towards an official badge of security approval as US authorities are trying to push screening of inbound maritime cargo across the national border to the Pacific coast of Canada.
On October 21, US and Canadian officials launched a pilot project at the port to screen ocean cargo headed for the US. Under the Integrated Cargo Security Strategy of the two neighbouring nations, the objective is to clear US-bound traffic in Canadian ports to eliminate the process at the US-Canada border in order to speed up transit times across the border. Any cargo arriving from offshore only needs to be screened once at its initial port of arrival.
Prince Rupert is meant to blaze a trail for an extension of the concept to other Canadian gateways that handle freight destined for the US. The Integrated Cargo Security Strategy seeks to harmonise the freight security regimes of the two nations to eliminate multiple screening.
For the Canadian port, the project augurs a powerful catalyst to boost its role as a major gateway not only for Canadian imports but also for Asian traffic headed to the US. Already, about 70 percent of Prince Rupert’s inbound volumes are headed for destinations south of the border, such as Chicago, Memphis and the Ohio Valley, according to Don Krusel, the port authority’s chief executive officer.
The port’s claim to major North American gateway status was underscored in September by the arrival of the Cosco Guangzhou, at 9,500 TEU the Chinese line’s largest vessel in its Pacific fleet.
“The arrival of the Cosco Guangzhou is indeed a monumental event for the Port of Prince Rupert, and the fact that our terminal operator and local workforce is able to meet this milestone with a ‘business-as-usual’ approach truly speaks of our unprecedented progress over the last five years,” said Don Krusel, president and chief executive officer of the Prince Rupert Port Authority.
Prince Rupert is located closer to Asia than any rival port on the North American Pacific Coast. According to its port authority, sailing times to China are two days shorter than from Vancouver and 68 hours less than from Los Angeles/Long Beach.
The port has enjoyed meteoric growth in its container throughput since its inception in 2007. Last year, it clocked up a 30 percent increase in traffic, with exports soaring 59.1 percent and imports up 20.5 percent, which made it the fastest growing container port in North America in 2011.
This summer, Prince Rupert’s container traffic climbed 5.5 percent in July to a monthly record of 48,977 TEUs.
The port authority and its operators are gearing up for further growth. Maher Terminals, which operates the port’s Fairview container facility, plans to ramp up the terminal’s capacity to 1.2 million TEUs. On nearby Ridley Island some US$90 million are being poured into the construction of new road and rail infrastructure.
Other Canadian ports are also investing in their facilities to get a larger slice of US overseas trade. Container handling capacity at the port of Vancouver is pushed up from 3.3 million TEUs to 4.1 million TEUs this year.
In Montreal, there are plans for a new container terminal on the St Lawrence Seaways on a site that has ready rail access, while the port of Halifax has two projects in the pipeline to ramp up breakbulk and container terminals.
An integrated security regime with the US would be the icing on the cake for the ports’ ambitions vis-a-vis US trade, particularly for Prince Rupert. Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax are already members of the Container Security Initiative (CSI), which was launched in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
A study released this summer by the US Federal Maritime Commission pointed out that Prince Rupert is not a member of CSI, which was promulgated years before the Canadian port commenced operations in 2007. This prompted the port authority to issue public statements emphasising the level of cargo security required on its beat.
“Prince Rupert port facilities are compliant with Canada’s Marine Transportation Security Regulations, which are more comprehensive than the requirements outlined in the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, and consistent with similar US requirements,” the port authority stressed.
It added that Fairview container terminal was designed and built with best-in-class security measures incorporated from its first day of operation. It was the first facility in North America to scan the unique radioactive signature of every container to confirm its contents, immediately upon discharge.