Prince Rupert port signs up Cosco-Logistics

Canadian National Railways has signed a contract with Beijing-based Cosco that will make the Chinese shipping giant the first line to route Asian cargo through Prince Rupert, the new west coast container port north of Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Port of Prince Rupert, which opens this fall, will link Asia to the world's largest industrial and consumer markets in the US Midwest and east coast - with a high-speed, congestion-free rail service through sparsely populated regions of northern and western Canada.

Prince Rupert promoters contrast this with the heavily congested rail routes from Los Angeles and Long Beach through densely populated American states to Chicago and the US east coast. On the other hand, LA-Long Beach backers say the Prince Rupert route with its sparse population provides few if any backhaul opportunities for returning boxes, a goodly number of which return with goods for sale in the populous US Midwest markets and on the west coast.

Phase 1 of the Prince Rupert terminal project will have initial annual throughput capacity of 500,000 TEU and is part of a broader plan to build a facility capable of handling two million TEU a year.

"CN is delighted to have Cosco as its first customer to call on the Prince Rupert container terminal, a new North American gateway for Asian trade,"

"Our partnership with Cosco and Prince Rupert is clear recognition of the competitive advantages of the new port facility and CN's rail network reach and superior service offering," said James Foote, CN's executive vice president for sales and marketing.

"The combination will offer shippers the fastest, most efficient and most cost-effective routing for Asian traffic destined to and from the interior of North America," Mr Foote said.