Prince Rupert Economic Development
About Prince Rupert
Prince Rupert, British Columbia, became a city in 1910. Prince Rupert is situated on Kaien Island, near the mouth of the Skeena River in British Columbia's Coast Mountains. With an average of 2,619 mm of precipitation per year, it is Canada's wettest city.
As Canada's deepest ice-free seaport, Prince Rupert connects the southern United States, Vancouver, and Alaska. It is the industrial, economic, and institutional heart of BC's Northwest Coast for these reasons.
The majority of Prince Rupert's exports are sent to Pacific Rim countries. Despite the fact that the city suffered in the 1990s as a result of the closing of the northeastern British Columbia coal mines and its pulp mill in 2001, trade with China and other Asian nations has since recovered.
Prince Rupert Port
Prince Rupert is the most major fish-landing port on the northwest coast, as well as the BC and Alaska ferry systems' terminal. The development of cruise ship traffic, as well as sportfishing locally, is boosting tourism.
The Port of Prince Rupert, notably the Fairview Container Terminal, is on the verge of thriving economic expansion, thanks in major part to the federal and provincial governments' Asia Pacific Gateway Initiative. The growth potential is evident.
Importing and exporting products are supported by a robust infrastructure. The northwest Transportation Corridor connects Asian economies to North America's consumer core via a highly efficient road and rail network.
The design capacity of the Fairview Container Terminal, which opened in 2007, is 500,000 TEUs. In the first quarter of 2010, export traffic increased by 108 percent. Phase 2 of the port is being planned, including adding a new crane and the extension of the docks to triple capacity.
The Prince Rupert Port has an economic effect of $280 million in GDP, $500 million in output, over 2,700 employees, and $150 million in pay.
Rail Network
The initial builders of the train line from Canada to Prince Rupert aimed to create a quicker route to Asia. Today, that vision is coming to fruition. The CN Rail route from Prince Rupert to Chicago delivers them in less than 100 hours from the time containers are off-loaded at Fairview Terminal. It is a Class 1 rail network that runs from Canada to the United States. The road from Prince Rupert is relatively uncongested and has the capacity to handle a significant increase in traffic.