Now into the third week of supply chain disruptions resulting from the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs dispute over the Coastal GasLink pipeline project, the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, is calling for the barricades to come down. Requests for meetings from the Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett to the hereditary chiefs are being ignored until the RCMP […]
Teck Resources $20.6-billion, 260,000-barrel-per-day project located in northeastern Alberta is hoping for the green light next week when the federal government is expected to make its decision on project. Teck has indicated that it will take an impairment charge of about $1.13 billion if the federal government rejects its project.
BC Ferries named and christened the first two Island Class ferries this week. The vessels, Island Discovery and Island Aurora, are the newest vessels to enter the fleet and will enter service in mid-2020, serving the Powell River – Texada Island and Port McNeill – Alert Bay – Sointula routes, respectively. The names were selected […]
The provincial government released its budget this week and concerns over possible changes to the BC Ports Property Tax Act or Assessment Act were allayed. The land valuation appreciation will be linked to CPI plus 1 percentage point and municipalities may only have a distinct tax rate for ports when the class 4 tax rate […]
The NDP has agreed to support the federal government’s attempt to fast track Bill C-4, Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement Implementation Act through the House of Commons. Both the U.S. and Mexico have ratified the agreement, leaving Canada as the only outstanding nation. The deal cannot come into force until all countries pass it. Bill C-4 is […]
The Government of Canada has officially announced their support for a ban on heavy fuel oil in Arctic waters. They will be seeking a phased-in approach to the ban as Canada discusses ways to help balance the environmental benefits with the economic realities of northern, Indigenous and Inuit communities with IMO countries. The decision is based on conclusions […]
As noted last week, the Transport Minister issued an order that reduced speed for trains carrying 20 or more cars by half. This slowdown caused railways to loose nearly a third of their capacity. A revision to the Ministerial order was made on Monday following review. The new speeds for trains either carrying a single […]
US and Canadian Coast Guards came together in Juneau this week to sign the newly revised Dixon Entrance Annex to the national Canada-United States Joint Marine Pollution Contingency Plan. The updated annex includes basic content and format changes in accordance with new national guidelines, clearer pollution notification and response protocols, and refreshed references to U.S. […]
The Kansas City Southern of Mexico (KCSM) line is planning to open an inland port, increasing rail options between the US and Mexico. The 540-acre Southwest International Gateway Park is located on the main KCSM northbound line about 60 miles southwest of Houston. The park will give shippers a more direct and efficient route into the Houston […]
The effects from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) have started to have a negative impact on a number of shipping-related industries and markets, from the dry bulk market, to the tanker and from ship-repair businesses in China, to crew-training schools in the Philippines. Oxford Economics warned that the spread of the virus to regions outside Asia would […]