Increasing efficiencies a key focus for terminals
At the end of 2018 and entering 2019, volumes were strong and continue to look positive for GCT Global Container Terminals as GCT Deltaport welcomed new PN4 and ZP9 services from THE Alliance and Zim respectively. GCT Deltaport serves the largest ships on the transpacific trade lane, including the biggest 13,300 TEU vessels calling Vancouver Gateway from the THE Alliance PN3 service this year.
As a homegrown private company headquartered in Vancouver, GCT has made some significant investments in Canada, spending over $650 million in staged terminal upgrades in the past 10 years alone. In September 2018, GCT Canada went live with the GCT Deltaport Intermodal Yard Reconfiguration project, a $300-million expansion that densified the railyard and sustainably increased capacity by 50 percent, all within its existing footprint. The terminals capacity is set to grow from 1.8 million TEUs to 2,4 million TEUs.
"In our recently completed GCT Deltaport Intermodal Yard Reconfiguration project, we continued to work in close cooperation with our workforce, transitioning our rail operations from a conventional operation to a semi-automated mode, improving workplace safety and cargo velocity through process improvement and design," said Doron Grosman, President & CEO. "The railyard is now largest and most advanced ship-to-rail discharge facility in the world"
Grosman added that the capacity for GCT Vanterm in Burrard Inlet will also increase by approximately 25 percent through a recently announced $160-million investment for improved infrastructure, equipment and processes while remaining within the same footprint. Improvements include berth-side upgrades such as the replacement of two ship-to-shore cranes with new ones featuring high-efficiency regenerative drives and LED lighting while the height of another existing crane will either be raised to accommodate larger ships, or replaced. New fenders and bollards will be added to the berth face and shore power connectivity could be introduced in collaboration with the Port Authority and other relevant stakeholders. To accommodate the increased volume, container stacks will be elevated to five containers high, densifying operations at the terminal and modernized high-efficiency equipment such as new yard cranes and tractor trailers will further reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"GCT Canada is committed to strong environmental performance and is Green Marine and Climate Smart certified," said Doron Grosman, President & CEO, "In the voluntary Green Marine program, GCT terminals scored 96 percent overall, achieving 'Excellence & Leadership' in nearly every category. Moreover, through our membership in Climate Smart greenhouse gas emissions program, results showed that from 2014-17, the company achieved a 5.9 percent emissions reduction per 1,000 TEUs, even as our volumes grew by 6.1 percent during the same period, demonstrating that business growth can be decoupled from emissions growth."
Despite all of the investments and upgrades, the bigger story for GCT lies in their efforts to move forward with GCT Deltaport Berth 4. "We are looking ahead to prepare for our next incremental stage of development to meet projected container traffic demands on the West Coast of British Columbia," said Grosman. "That is why we have advanced the GCT Deltaport Fourth Berth Expansion (DP4) project. It is a sustainable, phased, and privately-funded expansion of our existing terminal footprint at Roberts Bank to add a fourth berth, delivering required capacity while minimizing impact on our neighbours, environment, Indigenous fishing grounds, and our workforce."
Following years of expert analysis and preliminary studies, the proposed GCT Deltaport Berth 4 expansion project was determined to be feasible, leading to the application of a Preliminary Project Enquiry (PPE) for regulatory review of the DP4 project to Vancouver Fraser Port Authority (VFPA). "Surprisingly, GCT received a response from the VFPA stating that it would not even accept our application for review stating their preference for their own proposed Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project as one of the reasons," said Grosman.
As a result, GCT's only option was to file judicial review of the decision by the VFPA to block the GCT Deltaport Berth 4 project from proceeding through the outlined Port Authority regulatory approval process. "All that GCT is seeking is a fair, transparent, and independent review of the GCT Deltaport Berth 4 project," Grosman continued. "GCT's Deltaport Berth 4 project cannot have a reasonable and independent review as long as VFPA is our landlord, regulator, and competitor."
This article by BC Shipping News originally appeared in the June 2019 edition of BC Shipping News (published on May 20, 2019) on pages 24-26.