Village of Ashcroft Inland Container Terminal of Ashcroft Inland Container Terminal Ashcroft is...
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Village of Ashcroft Inland Container Terminal Ashcroft is located in British Columbia's central interior about 165 kilometers northeast of Vancouver and 62 kilometers west of Kamloops. The proposed site is positioned adjacent the Thompson River and is approximately 320 hectares in size. Being located on an inside bend in the river, the land is relatively flat and for the most part undeveloped. Access is provided by Evans Road which traverses the properties full length, primarily along the northern perimeter next to the river. The key attribute of the site is that both the CN Rail and CP Rail main lines from Vancouver run through the property. It is the only location between Vancouver and Alberta where the two railway main lines cross the same property next to each other. This allows for the site to be served by both of the Class 1 transcontinental railways. All intermodal rail destined to and from Vancouver's deep sea terminals pass through this location. Of the 323 hectares, about 200 hectares are zoned for heavy industry and are considered developable. CresentView Developments owns the site except for the individual rail corridors that run thought is which are owned by the respective railways. The concept of an inland port has been kicked around for a number of years as a possible solution to North America's on- going port congestion issues. The concept is generally not fully developed at this time, and there are no true inland container terminals in operation. Recently, the Ministry of Transportation Gateway Branch undertook an Inland Container Terminal Analysis. The conclusion is that any inland terminal must posses the following attributes: • Near centre of production/population • Availability of suitable land • Good mainline rail connections and competitive rail service, and • Direct connection to a major highway network. Ashcroft appears to have three and maybe four (production) of these attributes. Village of Ashcroft 601 Bancroft Street, Box 129, Ashcroft, BC, VOK 1AO Phone: (250)453-9161 Fax: (250)453-9664 Email: [email protected]
Transcript of Village of Ashcroft Inland Container Terminal of Ashcroft Inland Container Terminal Ashcroft is...
Village of AshcroftInland Container Terminal
Ashcroft is located in British Columbia's central interior about 165 kilometers northeast ofVancouver and 62 kilometers west of Kamloops. The proposed site is positionedadjacent the Thompson River and is approximately 320 hectares in size. Being locatedon an inside bend in the river, the land is relatively flat and for the most partundeveloped. Access is provided by Evans Road which traverses the properties fulllength, primarily along the northern perimeter next to the river. The key attribute of thesite is that both the CN Rail and CP Rail main lines from Vancouver run through theproperty. It is the only location between Vancouver and Alberta where the two railwaymain lines cross the same property next to each other. This allows for the site to beserved by both of the Class 1 transcontinental railways. All intermodal rail destined toand from Vancouver's deep sea terminals pass through this location. Of the 323hectares, about 200 hectares are zoned for heavy industry and are considereddevelopable.
CresentView Developments owns the site except for the individual rail corridors that runthought is which are owned by the respective railways. The concept of an inland port hasbeen kicked around for a number of years as a possible solution to North America's on-going port congestion issues. The concept is generally not fully developed at this time,and there are no true inland container terminals in operation.
Recently, the Ministry of Transportation Gateway Branch undertook an Inland ContainerTerminal Analysis. The conclusion is that any inland terminal must posses the followingattributes:
• Near centre of production/population• Availability of suitable land• Good mainline rail connections and competitive rail service, and• Direct connection to a major highway network.
Ashcroft appears to have three and maybe four (production) of these attributes.
Village of Ashcroft601 Bancroft Street, Box 129, Ashcroft, BC, VOK 1AO
Phone: (250)453-9161Fax: (250)453-9664
Email: [email protected]
Village of AshcroftInland Container Terminal
There are four potential variations identified for an inland container terminal at the site.They are:
1. Inland Container Terminal: In this concept the site will be a true inlandcontainer terminal where shuttle trains deliver randomly loaded containers fromthe deep sea terminals where they will be unloaded, grounded, sorted andreloaded in blocked trains for final destinations in eastern Canada and the USMidwest.
2. Inland Import Distribution Park: This is a concept where containers of goodsreceived at Vancouver's deep sea terminals are trucked or railed to the sire andde-stuffed and sorted for final distribution at large warehouses generally ownedby major retailers. It will involve reload to rail.
3. Rail Blocking Yard: As the site encompasses both the CN and CP main linesthe railways could deliver trains of randomly assembled cars from the deep seaterminals and then at Ashcroft trains would be broken up and re-assembled asfull length trains as per final destinations in eastern Canada ad the US Midwest.
4. Inland Export Transload Facility: In this concept local forest product mills(lumber and/or pulp) will truck their product as either break bulk or in containersto the site where they can be stuffed into containers and loaded to rail in the caseof break bulk, or containers pre-stuffed at the mills loaded to rail. Containers willthen be moved by rail to the deep sea terminals for export.
This concept is similar to the proposal being presented by Venture Kamloops andis the least likely to be developed in Ashcroft.
The Village of Ashcroft supports the development of an inland container terminal withintheir boundary. The Ashcroft Indian Band has provided a letter of support for thedevelopment of an Ashcroft Inland Container Terminal. In the letter Chief Councilor GregBlain states: "This letter will reiterate Ashcroft Indian Band's support for the proposedAshcroft Inland Container Terminal. We share the Village of Ashcroft's vision to developan inland container port in this area of the central interior region of British Columbia:
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THE CORPORATION OF THE
VILLAGE OF ASHCROFT601 Bancroft StreetP.O. Box 129Ashcroft, British Columbia VOK 1AOTelephone: (250) 453-9161Fax: (250) 453-9664
AshcroftInland Container Terminal
Village of Ashcroftwww.vlllaae.ashcroft.bc.ca
Ashcroft InlandContainerPort Page 1 of 5
On October 11th, 2006 Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada's New Government is
making a significant financial contribution to the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative to heipensure Canada's long-term economic competitiveness and prosperity.
"Our country is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the spectacular grow1h that is occurring in the Asia-Pacific region," the Prime Minister said. "Canada should be the crossroads between the massiveeconomy of the United States and the burgeoning economies of Asia."
Prime Minister Harper noted that as a result of these efforts, container traffic at British Columbia's majorcommercial ports is expected to rise to 7 million units annually by 2020, boosting Canada's share ofWest Coast container traffic from 9 to 14 per cent. Most of the container traffic will pass through the Portof Vancouver which already is near capacity. To meet this increased demand new solutions are beingsought.
One possible solution to improve the overall port and supply chain efficiency is the creation of anoperation center away from the congestion area. This inland port or "off dock hub" concept exists and isproven in many other parts of the world. The need and the requirements for such a facility exists in manyof the transportation and economic grow1h documents written by and for the BC provincial government.Furthermore, competitive demand for industrial land (both residential and commercial) in the Vancouverports area will make local solutions virtually impossible.
The main requirement of a solution is to increase the fiow rate of inbound and outbound containersthrough all the BC ports. Additionally, there should be a cost reduction in handling and other containerrelated operations.
We propose an off dock facility to act as a container transit hub as well as a "one stop" containeroperation center. Since in the near future almost 80% of inbound containers shall be destined for pointseast (Canada and USA) they could be moved straight from ship to our hub center via rail. Our facilitywould appear as a virtual port location. As if it was in the lower mainland but picked up and movedoutside the congestion to be a focal point for all the different docks. Such a hub will harmonize actualdock side operations to increase through-put efficiency and reduce costs.
Since the hub should be a "one stop" container operations center there shall many sub business centerswithin, such as cross docking, repair, tracking management (CTS), bulk storage and return, bulk loadingand in-fiow product assemble. We believe there is a great opportunity to work with several BC basedtechnology companies to provide world leading systems management solutions and GPS/Celiulartracking.
We have had lengthy discussions and meetings with:
Vancouver Port Authority
Fraser River Port Authority
Independent Port Operations and Supply Chain Consultants
Railways (CPR, CNR), Shipping Lines, Container Terminal Operators
BC Provincial Government Ministries of Transportation and Economic Development
Asian Gateway Council of Greater Vancouver
Western Transportation Advisory Council
Federal Ministry of Transportation
Western Economic Diversification
End user customers in the USA and Canada
Village of Ashcroftwww.vlllaQe.ashcroft.bc.ca
Ashcroft InlandContainerPort Page2 of 5
In addition to concluding the idea is indeed a possible viable solution, we determined the basicrequirements for a location to be:
large amount of relatively inexpensive and available land
relatively close to Vancouver, less than 6 hours by road or rail
direct access to the main lines of both CPR and CNR
near or at major east/west and north/south highways
suitable climate for storage and handling
correct zoning and overall community support
the site can be highly secured
Based on these derived requirements we believe the Village of Ashcroft is a superb candidate for thelocation of an inland port facility.
Ashcroft has over 700 acres of relatively inexpensive available land already zoned for industrialuse.
Ashcroft is relatively close to Vancouver, less than 5 hours by road or rail
Ashcroft has direct access to the main lines of both CPR and CNR as both rail lines run throughthe property. Ashcroft was the original transmodal hub during the late 1800's as goods movedfrom the railway to wagon train up the Cariboo Trail. Railway's are part of Ashcroft's past and willbe part of our future.
Ashcroft is on Highway 97c, 6 km from Highway #1 with access to points east, north and south.
Ashcroft has very little rainfall with a very mild climate suitable for storage and handling
Ashcroft's OCP and Zoning Bylaws have already designated this land as industrial.
This site has controlled access by road and rail and can be highly secured well away from anyresidential development.
We therefore feel this site meets the preliminary functional requirements to greatly improve the containerthrough put to/from Vancouver and on to the rest of North America.
The economic development for the Cariboo-Chilcotin Lillooet is explicit since the operation hub shallrequire some 450 direct full time employees in well paying jobs. There will be secondary job creation ofat least 150 more in support businesses (and new small businesses) within the region. With the direct raillink to the port of Prince Rupert, the hub will serve as a functional economic stimulus there as well. Thecost effective transport hub operation shall enable more goods to flow from the other northern regions.Again, supporting further economic growth for those regions.
The Village of Ashcroft has completed an Infrastructure Planning Needs Assessment which worked fromthe assumption that there would be 450 new jobs in the area and determined how ready Ashcroft is forsuch an event. The study indicates that Ashcroft is nicely positioned to adapt to this type of growth.There is enough residential land to handle that can be developed, water and sewer infrastructure for themost part will meet the demands. Recreation and park facilities are significant enough to handle thegrowth.
There will be an increase in the demand for provincial services such as hospitals and schools. Thedemand on the local highways will increase as well.
Village of Ashcroftwww.villaae.ashcroft.bc.ca
Ashcroft InlandContainerPort Page3 of 5
Next Steps
The specific project now required by the Village of Ashcroft is the analysis phase. The clear objectives ofthis project are:
determine the optimal location for a inland port in BC
define the economics of the business operations of a site
produce an investment grade business plan to raise the $75 - $100M in private funding to buildthe inland port.
The work must be done in an objective manner and maintain integrity and quality even though the Villageof Ashcroft can be seen as a stake holder in the results. This will ensure a high value in the workproduced independent of the conclusions.
The hub shall be a container operations centre that has a prime focus of improved containertransportation for both road and rail networks through out the province of BC. In particular, it shallimprove BC ports (Vancouver and Prince Rupert) container flow efficiency. The hub shall be a truck torail bidirectional cross-docking facility. This will give all four regions shorter (350 km closer thanVancouver) and better (cheaper) access for trucked products (lumber, food products, minerals, animalfeed, value added products, etc.) to a container loading operation. The empty containers will be thereand already destined for Asia. The same will be true for inbound containerized products destined for thenorthern regions of BC. Therefore, an overall improved transportation efficiency for the northern corridorsof the province.
In his address at the UBCM Convention in October 2006 Premier Campbell stated 'We will work withKamloops and Ashcroft fo develop the best possible southern interior inland port that captures hundredsof millions of dollars in economic opportunity and opens new jobs throughout the Thompson-Nicolaregion for everyone to take advantage of. "
Village of Ashcroftwww.vlllaae.ashcroft.bc.ca
Ashcroft Inland Container Port Page 4 of 5
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Location of Ashcroft Industrial SitePotential Home of
Inland Container Port
Village of Ashcroftwww.villaae.ashcroft.bc.ca
Ashcroft Inland Container Port
Contact Information
Mayor Andy Anderson
Councillor Helen Kormendy
Councillor Sonja Matthews
Councillor Alf Trill
Councillor Jackie Tegart
Tom Clement (CAO)
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Phone:
Fax:(250)453-9161
(250 )453-9664
Village of Ashcroft601 Bancroft StreetBox 129Ashcroft, BCVOK 1AO
Village of Ashcroftwww.vlllaae.ashcroft.bC.ca
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