Port's Larry Paulson outlines achievements in annual address

BY PAUL LEONARD of the VBJ

At Thursday's annual Port Re:Port Breakfast, Port of Vancouver executive director Larry Paulson did his best to deliver good news for a region suffering through a persistent economic downturn and historic unemployment.

And for the most part, he succeeded.

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Speaking for a crowd of around 300, including port tenants, employees and local elected officials, Paulson offered a progress report on several large projects in his State of the Port address at the Red Lion Hotel at the Quay in downtown Vancouver.

Paulson's remarks included updates on the ongoing West Vancouver Freight Access Project and an almost-completed Columbia River Channel Deepening Project - both aimed at increasing Port capacity in an increasingly competitive global trade market.

With Stage I finished last year, the $137 million freight access project aims to more than double freight capacity by increasing available track at the Port from 16.9 to 44 miles. 

The river deepening initiative, to be completed in December 2010, will create a channel three feet deeper than the minimum 40 feet from the mouth of the Columbia upriver to Vancouver.

Both projects received funding from last year's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, with $2.5 million going to freight access and $26.6 million used to complete the Columbia River channel project.

Paulson hailed these developments as part of a Port mission to lead the region out of the worst recession in decades, pointing to as many as 100 jobs created by construction of a rail loop at the Port's new Terminal 5. Part of the West Vancouver Freight Access Project and constructed by Rotschy, Inc., the rail loop is scheduled for completion in June.

But there was no masking the effects of last year's deep global recession on Port operations. Paulson reported a decrease last year of total tonnage, the number of ship calls and a steep decrease in construction materials like steel and wood coming in and out of the Port from 2008.

"We've had a few bumps here and there, but who hasn't?" he said.

Also speaking at the event, Port Commissioner Jerry Oliver highlighted what he saw as positive signs for future Port growth, including the installation of two 500 ton, 116-foot tall mobile harbor cranes - the biggest in North America, according to the Port - to keep up with expanding trade in heavy machinery such as wind turbine parts.

"It's become a niche for us," Oliver said.

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