A great Article from @PAPortAuthority on Short Sea Shipping opportunities for #alberni #VI appeared in the AV Times today.
So, what is a Container Trans Shipment and Short Sea Shipping Terminal? The basic premise of such an operation is to attract a significant percentage of the approximately 20 Million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent unit containers) – and growing annually – sailing within reach of the Alberni Inlet along the Great Northern Pacific Sailing Route destined to Vancouver, Seattle-Tacoma, Portland, LA-Long Beach and points in between.
Ships’ containers would be offloaded in the Alberni Inlet at a new, modern terminal facility, sorted and barged directly to their specific distribution hubs in the Fraser River, for example, or directly to the next transportation mode, such as rail, in the logistics chain. Let’s not also forget the great sense it makes to receive cargo from Asia on Vancouver Island for Vancouver Island destinations as the population of “our little island” is projected to rapidly increase towards one million residents.
This project has excellent potential to reshape the face of transportation for not only the Alberni Valley but Vancouver Island as a whole. It would be doubly interesting if TEUs destined for Vancouver Island actually got here first and did not need to ever set foot in the Lower Mainland, but that is perhaps asking too much.
Either way though, a revitalized and vibrant rail connection could be greatly enhance the possibilities of this venture even if the Terminal itself is located far from the rail terminus. Indeed it is far from any highway as it sounds as though it will be somewhere down the Alberni Inlet.
Supplies and logistics would need to come to Port Alberni first to get to the Terminal.
Clearly this service would be using links with Seaspan and Southern Railway of BC to get these containers to their distribution points in the Lower Mainland and to connect to the Continental rail network, these companies are part of the Washington Group of Companies as is Southern Railway of Vancouver Island.