Vancouver port chief predicts 140% traffic growth by 2020 for PNW ports

Vancouver port chief predicts 140% traffic growth by 2020 for PNW ports    Gordon Houston, president and chief executive officer of the Vancouver Port Authority, predicts box traffic at Pacific Northwest ports in North America will increase 140 percent by 2020.
   “The greatest area of growth in international marine commerce today is container traffic,” the port executive told the Delta Chamber of Commerce.
   Container volumes on the West Coast of North America are forecast to grow more than 125 percent between 2004 and 2020, he predicted. In the Pacific Northwest, forecast growth rates are 140 percent by 2020.
   “At the Port of Vancouver, we project that container volumes will more than triple in the next 15 years,” Houston said.
   Houston advocated the expansion of the Canadian port’s container terminal infrastructures. The Vancouver Port Authority’s container development program includes the enhancement of two existing container handling facilities, a study to convert a North Shore breakbulk terminal into a container terminal and the construction of a three-berth container terminal at Roberts Bank.
   “Collectively, these projects will require investment from the Vancouver Port Authority and partners of more than C$1.4 billion ($1.1 billion),” Houston said. By 2020, these investments will generate more than 38,000 jobs, he added.
   In a wide-ranging speech, Houston admitted the Vancouver local community is bearing “an unacceptable traffic problem along Highway 17 toward Highway 99.” Heavy truck traffic and idling cars mean that it is taking too long for people to get to work and to school, that “people’s quality of life is being diminished,” and that businesses are suffering. On an average day, there are 1,800 truck trips either to or from the Deltaport container terminal along Highway 17.
   Houston said the Vancouver Port Authority and the port of Vancouver support local demands for an improved road system in the community of Delta, as well as improvements to the rail system. “We’re willing to use our resources to help you achieve those solutions,” Houston said.