(Image: Port Saint John/submitted)
The $205-million modernization project at Port Saint John was front and centre during Tuesday’s virtual Port Days event.
Representatives from CN Rail, Canadian Pacific and terminal operator DP World were among those who spoke at a morning panel.
The 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.
John Brooks, chief marketing officer at Canadian Pacific Railway, said the game-changing project will put Saint John on the map.
“It’s not just this first phase. We’re super excited about the turnkey opportunity of this enhanced modernization,” said Brooks.
“It wasn’t five days after we announced the acquisition of the CMQ [Central Maine & Quebec Railway], we were banging on [Port Saint John CEO] Jim Quinn’s door and others saying ‘we need more, 300,000 TEUs is not enough.’ We see a vision of 800,000 TEU and how do we come together and enable it.”
Matthew Leech, CEO of DP World, 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,” said Leech.
“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.”
One of the questions raised during the panel surrounded the risks for future growth opportunities once the modernization is completed.
Leech said two of the key risks for him are having a skilled labour force in place and technology.
“Certainly we’re working with a terminal that, for all intents and purposes, is at the young stage of deployment of technology and that’s something that we need to advance in terms of what we do with technology,” said Leech.
Brooks said continued collaboration between the port, DP World and rail companies like his will be key going forward.
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