The Port of Vancouver has been the proponent of a flawed ~$3.5 billion taxpayer-funded, new artificial island container terminal megaproject called Roberts Bank Terminal 2 (RBT2) for the past 20 years. RBT2 is a major economic and environmental risk.
Squeezing out Private Investment
The Port's RBT2 project will squeeze out smart, market-driven Canadian private investments on the West Coast, and the required Port Authority rates will make the Vancouver gateway uncompetitive. These costs create risks for taxpayers and businesses conducting trade.
Watch video: Port of Vancouver is squeezing out Canadian private investments
Squeezing on the Environment
RBT2 is proposed to be constructed in the ecologically sensitive Salish Sea. In February 2018, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) characterized the environmental impacts of RBT2 as "permanent, irreversible, and, continuous."
Very recently, in late October 2022, ECCC reiterated that, despite the Port’s attempts at mitigation, “the changes predicted as a result of the Project would likely constitute an unmitigable species-level risk to Western Sandpipers, and shorebirds more generally.”
Others agree:
- City of Delta Mayor and Council urges federal government to delay or deny RBT2
- City of Richmond, BC staff recommend opposition to Port of Vancouver's Terminal 2 expansion
- Candidates for Delta, BC share their views on Roberts Bank Terminal 2
- Letter from scientists regarding Roberts Bank Terminal 2
Watch video: Environmental problems with Roberts Bank Terminal 2
A Better Solution
It is true that Canada's West Coast will eventually need additional marine container terminal capacity, but there are excellent private sector answers to that in both Port of Prince Rupert and Port of Vancouver:
GCT Global Container Terminals, the private Canadian operator at Deltaport for more than 25 years, is proposing an incremental, smart, market-driven expansion that would add up to 2 million TEUs of West Coast marine container terminal capacity when it is needed with the environmentally-conscious Deltaport Berth 4 (DP4) project.
And, DP4 is privately funded, leaving public money available for urgent priorities like upgrading Canada's Pacific Gateway infrastructure with projects that make it (and the supply chain) more resilient and sustainable in the face of climate change.
Imagine all the road, rail, public transit and other infrastructure improvements that could be made with $3.7 billion public funds…
Watch video: GCT Deltaport 4: a smart port expansion for B.C. and Canada
Roberts Bank Terminal 2 is NOT in the public interest.
It's time for the Port Authority of Vancouver to stop squeezing out private investment and putting the squeeze on the environment.
It’s time for the Port to consider the public interest (of B.C. and Canada).
It’s time for the Port to stop pressing forward with its own flawed RBT2 project and take an unbiased look at the better alternative being put forward by GCT, the Deltaport Berth 4 (DP4) project.
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