Roberts Bank Superport
Roberts Bank Superport is a twin-terminal port facility located on the mainland coastline of the Strait of Georgia in Delta, British Columbia. Opened in 1970 with Westshore Terminals as its only tenant, Roberts Bank was expanded in 1983–84, and in June 1997 opened a second terminal, the GCT Deltaport container facility.
Part of Port Metro Vancouver, Roberts Bank is also known as the Outer Harbour of Canada's busiest port. Westshore is the busiest single coal export terminal in North America and is operated by the Westar Group on a long-term contract. It typically ships over 20 million tonnes of export coal a year and early in 2010 completed a $49-million equipment upgrade, bringing its capacity from 24 million to 29 million tonnes per year.
On December 7, 2012, the Panama-registered and Japan-owned bulk carrier Cape Apricot crashed into a causeway at the Westshore coal terminal, destroying about 100 metres of the structure, including a coal conveyor system, according to the Vancouver Sun. Port Metro Vancouver's Harbour Master said that this was first marine accident in the 42-year history of the coal terminal.[1] The accident resulted in an estimated 30 tonnes of coal going into the water from the severed conveyor and the disabling of the largest of the terminal's two coal-loading berths. Reconstruction of the conveyor system is expected to be completed by March 31, 2013.[1]
GCT Deltaport, Canada’s flagship container terminal, is also located at Roberts Bank in Port Metro Vancouver. GCT Canada Limited Partnership operates GCT Deltaport, as well as GCT Vanterm located in the inner harbour on Burrard Inlet. GCT Deltaport completed a $400 million expansion in late 2009 and is an 85-hectare (210-acre) facility with three contiguous berths totaling 1,100 metres (3,609 feet). The terminal is designed to handle the largest transpacific container vessels in service and features dual-hoist gantry cranes—the first in the Americas—in its fleet of ten high-speed, super post-Panamax cranes. The facility employs state-of-the-art computer systems and has an on-dock intermodal rail yard with eight tracks totaling 8,534 metres (28,000 feet). The terminal is big ship ready and has handled the largest vessels to call the port, including 10,000 TEU Zim Djibouti in 2009, surpassed in 2014 by the 10,500 TEU Cornelia Maersk. GCT Canada LP is a subsidiary of GCT Global Container Terminals Inc. and has sister terminals located in the Port of New York and New Jersey, namely semi-automated GCT Bayonne and GCT New York GCT New York.
Like the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal to the southeast, Roberts Bank was built at the end of a long causeway over a shallow bank. Originally created as a 20-hectare (49-acre) pod of reclaimed land for a major coal port, it is now four times that size. In January 2010, Deltaport added a third berth and doubled its capacity. It is now one of the busiest import/export ports in North America and a major hub for container trucking companies.
Roberts Bank is serviced by CN Rail, CP Rail, and BNSF Railway. Seaspan International provides tugboat services to both terminals at peninsula.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Vancouver Sun, January 4, 2013.
External links
- GCT Canada Limited Partnership, operators of the Port Metro Vancouver's GCT Deltaport, under a long-term lease agreement.
- The Canadian Encyclopedia entry for Delta, British Columbia
- Westshore Terminals Limited Partnership
Coordinates: 49°01′10″N 123°09′38″W / 49.01944°N 123.16056°W