The $170-million investment in the Prince Rupert container port is modest by some standards, but it's literally a lifesaver for a port and community whose economy has long been as gloomy as the thick fog that rolls in off the North Pacific.
"I can't put it into words what it means to get to this point," says Don Krusel, CEO of the Prince Rupert Port Authority. "It's been such a long journey and there have been such small milestones along the way, it seems almost surreal."
"When I was down at the terminal [three weeks ago] and saw those giant container cranes for the first time, it was overwhelming," says Krusel, who celebrates 20 years with the authority later this year. "We were looking death in the eyes," Krusel recalls.
Today, a container facility that's being talked up as the biggest thing to hit northwest B.C. since the railway first reached the west coast will be officially opened at a ceremony that's drawn business leaders and politicians from everywhere with a stake in the success of the venture.
The list is long: Chicago and Memphis, Tenn., key centres on Canadian National's link to the U.S. heartland; New York, home of Maher Terminals, which invested $60 million in the project; China, which will be a critical first user of the port; and B.C. communities such as Prince George and the Tsimshian First Nations.
CN's Edmonton container yard will be the main marshalling centre for huge trains of containers taking goods from the booming Asian markets to the U.S. heartland and Central Canada.
Not only will communities along the corridor benefit from incoming container traffic, there is new opportunities to fill empty containers going the other way, Krusel says.
"We have a tsunami of trade coming from Asia, but we don't yet have the same volume to go back."
He's confident it will come, and points to CN's specialty grain centre in Edmonton and other load centres in B.C. and northern Alberta that can send forest products and other manufactured goods to Asia at more favourable shipping rates than in the past.
Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond also can't believe the terminal is up and running.
"It's hard to put into words how important it is," he says. "We've been working on this for so long, and it's going to bring a major shift in economies for the whole corridor."
It will bring family-supporting jobs to a community that desperately needs them, and the city is already seeing a stream of investors interested in the area.
"Two years ago, you had to explain where Prince Rupert was. Now, shippers around the world know all about us."
The grand plan -- with the $340-million Phase 2 scheduled for completion in 2011 -- is for the terminal to eventually rival Vancouver and Seattle's vast container complexes without their transportation bottlenecks.
And with Phase 1 expected to hit capacity this time next year, Krusel is confident that will happen.
"People said we had a snowball in hell's chance of building a container port in such a remote area with no local market," he says.
"But we have a phenomenal geographic advantage.
"We are the shortest land and sea route to and from North America, we have a safe deepwater port, and we have a railway line that's only running at 15 per cent of capacity."
"I can't put it into words what it means to get to this point," says Don Krusel, CEO of the Prince Rupert Port Authority. "It's been such a long journey and there have been such small milestones along the way, it seems almost surreal."
"When I was down at the terminal [three weeks ago] and saw those giant container cranes for the first time, it was overwhelming," says Krusel, who celebrates 20 years with the authority later this year. "We were looking death in the eyes," Krusel recalls.
Today, a container facility that's being talked up as the biggest thing to hit northwest B.C. since the railway first reached the west coast will be officially opened at a ceremony that's drawn business leaders and politicians from everywhere with a stake in the success of the venture.
The list is long: Chicago and Memphis, Tenn., key centres on Canadian National's link to the U.S. heartland; New York, home of Maher Terminals, which invested $60 million in the project; China, which will be a critical first user of the port; and B.C. communities such as Prince George and the Tsimshian First Nations.
CN's Edmonton container yard will be the main marshalling centre for huge trains of containers taking goods from the booming Asian markets to the U.S. heartland and Central Canada.
Not only will communities along the corridor benefit from incoming container traffic, there is new opportunities to fill empty containers going the other way, Krusel says.
"We have a tsunami of trade coming from Asia, but we don't yet have the same volume to go back."
He's confident it will come, and points to CN's specialty grain centre in Edmonton and other load centres in B.C. and northern Alberta that can send forest products and other manufactured goods to Asia at more favourable shipping rates than in the past.
Prince Rupert Mayor Herb Pond also can't believe the terminal is up and running.
"It's hard to put into words how important it is," he says. "We've been working on this for so long, and it's going to bring a major shift in economies for the whole corridor."
It will bring family-supporting jobs to a community that desperately needs them, and the city is already seeing a stream of investors interested in the area.
"Two years ago, you had to explain where Prince Rupert was. Now, shippers around the world know all about us."
The grand plan -- with the $340-million Phase 2 scheduled for completion in 2011 -- is for the terminal to eventually rival Vancouver and Seattle's vast container complexes without their transportation bottlenecks.
And with Phase 1 expected to hit capacity this time next year, Krusel is confident that will happen.
"People said we had a snowball in hell's chance of building a container port in such a remote area with no local market," he says.
"But we have a phenomenal geographic advantage.
"We are the shortest land and sea route to and from North America, we have a safe deepwater port, and we have a railway line that's only running at 15 per cent of capacity."