Globally, investors have become wary of sinking big dollars into port and terminal projects, but locally they are being far less cautious.
Global Container Terminals (GCT) recently went live with its $300 million rail densification project at GCT Deltaport.
The investment in the Roberts Bank container cargo terminal is part of what GCT president and CEO Doron Grosman sees as one of his three main objectives after he replaced Stephen Edwards in July 2017: increase GCT’s return on capital.
The company is also set to invest $160 million to expand container cargo handling capacity at its Vanterm terminal in Vancouver.
Current market conditions appear to support the wisdom of GCT’s investments.
Vancouver recently graduated into the list of the world’s top 50 container ports as compiled by the U.S.-based Journal of Commerce. Its 10.9% increase to 3.25 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) handled in 2017 ranked it No. 47. Mid-year cargo numbers released earlier this year showed container cargo through the Port of Vancouver up 5% to a record 1.64 million TEUs and up 16% through the Port of Prince Rupert to 591,335 TEUs compared with 2017’s first six months.
Read more on Business in Vancouver.
