Port of Vancouver
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| General information | |||
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| Founded | Original shipment 1964 | ||
| Coordinates - Latitude - Longitude |
49°16'37" N 123°07'15" W |
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| Area - Coastline - Land - Water |
247 kilometres 4.6 km² 60 km² |
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| Major marine terminals | 25 | ||
| Vessel arrivals | 2,677 (FY 2005) | ||
| Annual container volume | 1.8 million TEUs (FY 2005) | ||
| Annual cargo tonnage | 76.5 million metric revenue tons (FY 2005) | ||
| Value of cargo handled | $43 billion USD (CY 2004) | ||
| Cruise traffic | 0.910 million passengers (FY 2005) | ||
| Gross Domestic Product (GDP) | $4.0 billion USD (FY 2004) | ||
| Jobs | 69,200 (total) (FY 2004) | ||
| VPA Board of Directors | |||
| Chairman Vice chairman |
George A. Adams John T. Willcox |
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| Other board members |
Greg S. Arason Marilyn Baker Kazuko Komatsu Kenneth L. Matchett Sarah A. Morgan-Silvester R.V. (Bob) Wilds |
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| President and CEO | Captain Gordon Houston | ||
| Official Website | |||
The Port of Vancouver is the largest port in Canada and the Pacific Northwest, the second largest port on the West Coast of North America, and is also the most diversified port on the continent.
The Port of Vancouver trades $43 billion in goods with more than 90 trading economies annually. The Vancouver Port Authority is the Canadian crown corporation responsible for management of the port, which, in addition to the city of Vancouver, includes all of Burrard Inlet and Roberts Bank Superport in Delta.
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[edit] Terminals
The Port has 25 major marine terminals: three container, seventeen bulk cargo and five break bulk.
The Centerm container and break bulk terminals are leased by P&O Ports, which was acquired by Dubai Ports World in 2005.
[edit] Economic impact
The Port generates 30,100 direct jobs through its activities. Employment is generated by five sectors related to the Port: maritime cargo, cruise industry, capital investment in Port facilities, shipbuilding and repair, and non-maritime enterprises. Maritime cargo is the largest of the sectors, generating more than 21,000 direct jobs. The cruise sector is the next largest, generating almost 5,600 direct jobs. Factoring in the multiplier effects (including indirect jobs), the Port has a total employment impact of 69,200 jobs across all five sectors. The jobs created by the Port are on average 52% higher than the average wage in British Columbia.
The Port contributed $1.8 billion dollars in direct GDP and $4.1 billion dollars in direct economic output to the Canadian economy in 2004. When multiplier effects are taken into account, these figures increase to $4.0 billion in GDP and $8.9 billion in economic output. The Port's economic impact extends into Western Canada and beyond, with most of the exports shipped through the Port produced outside of Greater Vancouver, and many of the imports intended for markets outside of the Lower Mainland.
The Port is the homeport for the Vancouver-Alaska cruise, which occurs annually from May to September, with more than 1-million revenue passengers on about 300 sailings passing through the Port's two cruise terminals: Canada Place and Ballantyne. In 2006 the Port will host 28 ships at its two cruise terminals.
[edit] Statistics
In 2005 the Port handled 76.5 million tonnes, up 4% from 2004's 73.6 million tonnes. The Port also handled 1.7 million total containers, 910,172 cruise passengers, and 105,246 foreign vessels.
In 2005 the Port's top import and export partner nations were:
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[edit] Container terminal expansion
Studies indicate that container traffic on the West Coast of North America is expected to triple in the next 20 years.[citation needed] The Port of Vancouver has the opportunity to capture nearly 7-million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) by 2020. In order to meet future requirements, the VPA has examined options to increase the port's container terminal capacity. In August 2002, the VPA announced the beginning of the process. The VPA is looking at a three-pronged approach to increasing container capacity at the Port of Vancouver:
- Efficiencies at existing terminals
- Expansion at existing terminals
- Building new facilities
However, the Port of Prince Rupert is also looking to capture the expected increase in container traffic. The location of Prince Rupert gives it a logistical advantage, with direct rail lines to major destinations such as Chicago and New York.
[edit] History
With the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, Vancouver’s seaport was able to compete with the major international ports for global trade because it was positioned as an alternative route to Europe. During the 1920s, the provincial government successfully fought to have freight rates that discriminated against goods transported by rail through the mountains eliminated, giving the young lawyer of the case, future Vancouver Mayor and Canadian senator, Gerry McGeer, a reputation as “the man who flattened the Rockies.”[1] Consequently, prairie wheat came west through Vancouver rather than being shipped out through eastern ports. The federal government established the Harbour Commission (forerunner to the Port Authority) in the early 1920s to oversea port development. With its completion in 1923, Ballantyne Pier was the most technologically advanced port in the British Empire.[2] The CPR, lumber exporters, terminal operators, and other companies based on the waterfront banded together after the Great War to establish the Shipping Federation of British Columbia as an employers’ association to manage industrial relations on the increasingly busy waterfront.[3] The Federation fought vociferously against unionization, defeating a series of strikes and breaking unions until the determined longshoremen established the current ILWU local after the Second World War.[4] By the 1930s, commercial traffic through the port had become the largest sector in Vancouver’s economy.[5]
[edit] External links
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ Eric Nicol, Vancouver. Toronto: Doubleday, 1970.
- ^ [1] “Port of Vancouver – Yesterday,” [video] Port of Vancouver [website].
- ^ Andrew Yarmie, “The Right to Manage: Vancouver Employers’ Associations, 1900-1923,” BC Studies, no. 90 (1991): 40-74.
- ^ Paul A. Phillips, No Power Greater: A Century of Labour in British Columbia. Vancouver: BC Federation of Labour/Boag Foundation, 1967.
- ^ Leah Stevens, “Rise of the Port of Vancouver,” Economic Geography 12, no. 1 (January 1936): 61-70, and R. C. McCandless, “Vancouver’s ‘Red Menace’ of 1935: The Waterfront Situation,” BC Studies 22 (1974): 56-70.
