Prince Rupert Port

The Prince Rupert Port lies on Kaien Island in western British Columbia’s Chatham Sound. Near the mouth of Canada’s Skeena River, it is 1500 kilometers northwest of Vancouver.

Background
Prince Rupert Port is an ice-free harbor that serves the coal, lumber, and other mining industries, as well as the surrounding agricultural area. On January 18, 2011, Arch Coal signed a coal-export agreement with the Prince Rupert Port in the same week it reported buying a 38% ownership stake in a coal loading facility planned for Longview, Washington, the Millennium Bulk Logistics Longview Terminal. The port's large coal export facility is called Ridley Terminal.

Ridley Terminals
Prince Rupert is a large coal exporter. Prince Rupert is remote from population centers and from the Powder River Basin, where much of its coal exports originate, it is 450 nautical miles closer to Shanghai than Vancouver. The Prince Rupert coal export facility is operated by Ridley Terminals, Inc., a Federal Crown Corporation, which means that it is owned by the government of Canada. It was built specifically to export metallurgical and thermal coal from the northeastern part of the province. The Sightline Institute notes that the Ridley facility has the ability to process 12 million metric tons of bulk commodities annually, and the terminals can store one-tenth of that amount, 1.2 million tons, on-site. Coal accounted for 83 percent of Ridley’s total volume in 2010. It is estimated that Ridley moves an average of 9 million tons of coal per year. The terminal can be expanded from 24-30 million tons, and the terminals is set to grow its capabilities.

It was announced in September 2011 the Port at Ridley Island was planning on doubling it coal carrying capacity to 24-30 million tons, adding a third stacker and increasing the size of the port by 14 hectares.

It was also reported in September 2011 that Ridley announced export deals with Arch Coal, Black Hills Corporation and Cloud Peak Energy, all of which operate coal mines in the Powder River Basin.

It was reported that the port increased traffic by 17 percent in 2011.

Arch Coal signs coal export lease
On January 18, 2011, Arch Coal signed a coal-export agreement with the Prince Rupert Port in the same week it reported buying a 38% ownership stake in a coal loading facility planned for Longview, Washington, the Millennium Bulk Logistics Longview Terminal. Both are for the company to secure shipping access to Asian markets. Arch Coal signed a five-year agreement to export up to two million tons of coal in 2011 from Prince Rupert, B.C., and up to 2.5 million tons of coal a year in 2012 through 2015.

The deal was signed with Ridley Terminals Inc., a port operator owned by the Canadian government with 12 million tons of annual coal-export capacity. International demand for U.S. coal has increased as supplies from Australia - the world's No. 2 thermal-coal exporter after Indonesia - were disrupted by massive floods in 2010 in the country's eastern, coal-producing region.

Ridley also signed smaller coal contracts in 2010 with U.S. coal producers Cloud Peak Energy and Black Hills Corporation. Together, the three American contracts represent about 40 percent of capacity at Ridley, according to the Mining Association of British Columbia. Canada coal companies such as Teck Resources, Western Coal, and Grande Cache say the Crown corporation's decision to award long-term contracts to three U.S. companies will clog the already busy port, and jeopardize their plans for coal export expansion.

Expansion agreement with Western Coal
In February 2011, Western Coal signed an amended terminal services agreement with Ridley Terminals Inc. to expand the coal company's production levels at its facilities in Canada. The company exports most of its metallurgical coal to Asia-Pacific markets to meet the growing demand by steel makers. Ridley can load up to 12 million metric tonnes of coal each year - the expansion plans means that could double to 24 million metric tonnes by the year 2015, due also to the five-year agreement with Arch Coal.

Efforts to privatize the coal port
In March 2010, it was reported that a consortium of major B.C. coal and lumber companies and several investors appeared ready to buy the Prince Rupert coal terminal - Ridley Terminals - from the federal government. Ridley Terminals made $25 million in revenue in 2008. B.C. coal firms operating out of the region include Peace River Coal and Western Coal, both members of Ridley Terminals. By January 2011, however, the port was still a Crown corporation, with the decision to award port capacity to US coal companies like Arch Coal creating tension with Canadian coal companies, who say the move will choke off their coal export capacity.

Coal dust near Prince Rupert Port
In an attempt to relieve complaints near the port that coal dust was making nearby homes dirty, Ridley Terminals in October 2011 said that it was taking measures to be a good corporate citizen and good neighbor to local residents. It was reported people affected by coal dust can fill out a form if they have been affected by coal dust and a contractor will power wash off the homeowner's property. Critics say that washing off the coal dust is not enough, as it has severe effects on human health by simply being airborne.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Canada and coal
 * China and coal
 * Coal exports
 * Existing U.S. Coal Mines
 * Montana and coal
 * Oregon and coal
 * Powder River Basin
 * U.S. coal exports
 * Washington (state) and coal
 * Wyoming and coal
 * Railroads and coal
 * Coal terminals
 * Coal Exports from Northwest United States Ports


 * Profiles of other states (or click on the map)