Vancouver BC Port Sees Minor Cargo Growth in March

Gains in exports were offset by declines in imports led to the Canadian Port of Vancouver posting minor total cargo volume growth in March.

The port handled a total of 184,836 TEUs in March, a 2.5 percent increase over March 2010--making this March the port's weakest monthly total volume in the past 12 months.
While the port's March numbers remained in positive total growth territory when compared to the same month last year, cargo statistics show a downward trend in imports over the first three months of the year and an inverse upward trend for exports during the same period.

On the import side, Vancouver officials reported handling a total of 84,250 loaded inbound TEUs in March, a 1.3 percent decline compared to the year-ago period. March import numbers were the lowest monthly import numbers at the port since June 2009.

In the export column, the port posted a total of 80,419 loaded outbound TEUs in March, an 8 percent increase over the same month last year. Monthly export volumes have grown 13.6 percent in the January to March period.

The port moved a total of 576,711 TEUs in the first quarter, a 9.9 percent increase over the first three months of 2010.

Vancouver Port Eyed as Possible Entry Point for Nuke During Winter Olympics

Six months after the close of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, it is now being learned that the Canadian government increased radiation monitoring at the Port of Vancouver over fears that terrorists might try to sneak in a nuclear device to detonate during the Games.

The internal documents, obtained by The Vancouver Sun, also reveal that Canadian government quietly imposed a state of "heightened vigilance" at the country's airports just prior to the start of the Games on Feb. 12, mainly in response to a failed airline bombing in the United States on Christmas Day, 2009.

According to The Sun, a high-level government memo was disseminated which said, in part, "Questions have ... been raised regarding the possibility that a terrorist group could exploit the movement of ... containers through the port of Vancouver during the Olympic and Paralympic Games."

The memo listed steps that were taken to minimize the chance of a nuclear device slipping in through the port, including: Increase in-depth risk assessments of all containers prior to their shipment in to Canada; the installation of container-scanning radiation detection portals at the port; the application of vehicle-mounted radiation detectors throughout the port; and, the distribution of hand-held radiation detectors.

The Sun points out that many of the radiation detection devices were in place long before the start of the Games.

However, a separate document obtained by The Sun summarizing the Canadian Border Services Agency's efforts to secure the port during the Games included increasing chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive detection capabilities at all Canadian points of entry.

"The Enforcement Branch has developed a plan that will support port of entry enforcement activities by providing increased training, maintenance and support for a variety of contraband and CBRNE detection tools during the Games," it states, according to The Sun. The document also noted that the various detection tools could by redeployed where needed "should threat levels increase."

In response to a inquiry from The Sun, CBSA spokeswoman Shakila Manzoor said the agency had "no information of a threat or actual attempt to smuggle bomb/radiological material leading up to or during the 2010 Games." She told the newspaper that the increased detection equipment was in response to "worst case scenarios."

Canadian West Coast Ports Continue Box Traffic Increases

Further strengthening the arguments that a recovery is under way in trans-Pacific trade, the two major Canadian West Coast container ports both continued to report increased monthly traffic volumes in April.

Port Metro Vancouver in British Columbia handled a total of 724,434 TEUs in April, an 8 percent increase over April 2009. Port officials also reported that total loaded inbound box volume in April climbed 17 percent compared to April 2009, with 359,408 TEUs moved. The port also handled a total of 260,121 loaded outbound TEUs in April, a 3 percent increase over the year-ago period.

Port Metro Vancouver includes the ports of Vancouver B.C., Frasier River, and North Frasier River.

To the North, the Port of Prince Rupert reported total box volume for April of 26,611 TEUs, a 50.7 percent increase over April 2009.

Prince Rupert officials also reported total loaded inbound box volume of 15,998 TEUs for April, a 48.8 percent increase over the same period last year, and total loaded outbound box volume of 10,614 TEUs, a 53.7 percent increase over April 2009.

New Member for Vancouver BC Port Authority

The Canadian government today announced the appointment of Eugene Kwan to a three-year term on the 11-member board of directors of the government port authority that oversees the Canadian ports of Vancouver, Frasier River and North Frasier River.

Kwan, whose appointment to the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority was announced by Canadian Transport Minister John Baird, currently serves as the president and chief executive officer of Agincourt Capital Corporation and senior counsel to Stikeman Elliott LLP, an international business law firm based in Canada. Kwan previously served as a senior executive with Hutchison Whampoa Group. Prior to joining Hutchison, he served as a partner and managing director of Stikeman Elliott where he was in charge of the firm's Hong Kong office.

Kwan, who holds a law degree from the University of British Columbia, is also president of the Fraser Valley Wineries Association and a director of the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation.

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, one of seventeen Canadian federal government entities set up to run the county's ports, markets itself as Port Metro Vancouver.

Puget Sound Ports See Clean Air Programs Working

The Puget Sound ports' collaborative environmental program known as the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy has led to sizable reductions in Puget Sound ports-generated diesel emissions, according to a study released by the ports of Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver BC last week.

The latest NPCAS report from the ports covers 2009 and found that NPCAS programs reduced sulfur emissions generation in the region by more than 68 tons and cargo-handling equipment retrofits reduced particulate matter emissions by 25 percent to 50 percent.

First released as a draft in 2007, the NPCAS seeks to reduce diesel and greenhouse gas emissions in the Puget Sound region by achieving early reductions in advance of, and complementary to, applicable government regulations related to cargo-handling equipment, ocean going vessels, trucks and rail vehicles. In addition, the NPCAS sets targets built the successes on current emissions reduction initiatives, and suggests a range of practical actions the ports and their industry stakeholders may choose from to achieve those targets.

Like many large ports on the West Coast, the ports of Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver BC are all identified as major generators of diesel emissions in their communities.

Vancouver BC Port Volumes Off 14% In 2009

The Canadian Port of Vancouver handled 2,152,462 TEUs in 2009, a 14 percent decline compared to 2008 numbers.

Loaded inbound box volume also fell in 2009, ending the year at 1,007,304 TEUs compared to last year's totals, a drop of 19 percent.

On the up side, loaded outbound containers rose 1 percent in 2009 to end the year at 925,411 TEUs.