New Partnership Struck To Help Expand Port Workforce

The province has committed up to $450,000 for a new partnership aimed at supporting workforce development and planning at Port Saint John.

It comes as the port undergoes a $205-million modernization project due to be completed in 2023.

Labour Minister Trevor Holder says the modernization will significantly increase the demand for workers.

“What we need to do is make sure that we have everything in place — in terms of training, in terms of equipment — and that all hands are rowing in the same direction and that it’s all hands on deck to make sure that we meet the opportunity that’s coming towards us,” Holder said during Thursday’s announcement.

Holder announced that the province has committed up to $450,000 through WorkingNB for the partnership.

Provincial officials will work with employers, labour representatives, and others to develop a recruitment and training strategy.

The partnership will also work to develop and refine a workforce partnership model that “targets and accelerates strategic workforce recruitment.”

“It will be the first of its kind in New Brunswick where we actually put a community-led workforce committee in place that’s proactive, that seizes opportunities rather than waits until problems arise,” said Holder, referring to committees that are put in place following significant job losses in the province.

Labour Minister Trevor Holder announces up to $450,000 for a new workforce partnership designed to develop recruitment and training strategies for a modernized Port Saint John. pic.twitter.com/gHf2dEINSy

— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) July 15, 2021

Members of the partnership include Canadian Pacific Railway, DP World, Envision Saint John, employers, union representatives, and the Saint John Learning Exchange.

Terry Wilson, local president of the International Longshoreman’s Association, said the partnership will play a big role as the modernization project nears completion.

“After the modernization is done, we hope to look over across the west side and see two more cranes, much more ground equipment, and for that, we’ll need training and we’ll need to add numbers to our workforce,” said Wilson.

As for how many new jobs will be created as part of the modernization, Holder said that is one of the things the members of the partnership will need to determine.

The partnership will be chaired by Al Bodechon, former chair of the port’s board of directors and a retired Saint John police chief.

“I think it’s a great initative, it’s very strategic, and hopefully we’re going to have some great success,” said Bodechon.

The modernization project includes the consolidation of the Rodney and Navy Island terminals for a longer pier, a terminal upgrade and a deeper shipping channel.

The upgrades will double the port’s container capacity to 300,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), deepen quayside draft and provide additional on-dock rail capacity.

Matthew Leech, CEO of terminal operator DP World, has said the project will not only upgrade current infrastructure and lay the foundation to reach 300,000 TEUs, but also allow for further capacity expansions down the road.

“What sits there is this latent opportunity, with some incremental investment as demand materializes, for us collectively as stakeholders to continue to invest to build out the size of that pipeline, if you will, and that gateway,” Leech said during a panel discussion in June.

“It’s not just the modernization that happens today, but it’s really building something that has capacity to grow to continue to meet demand for the future.”

The new wharf is expected to be done by the end of 2022 and the entire project should be completed in the spring of 2023.