Yesterday the Government of Canada announced the Government of Canada’s decision to approve the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project that includes building new land and a new three-berth marine container terminal near existing port terminals at Roberts Bank in Delta, BC. The project will incrementally deliver an additional 2.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of capacity, ultimately increasing Canada’s west coast container capacity by approximately one-third. Besides enabling Canada’s growing trade, additional container terminal capacity at the Port of Vancouver will strengthen national supply-chain resilience, by creating additional “buffer” to handle cargo surges, such as those experienced through the pandemic, and support recovery from weather-related disruptions, such as the severe flooding that B.C. experienced in late 2021 that contributed to port cargo backlogs well into 2022. The project will deliver substantial economic benefits, including more than 18,000 jobs during construction; more than 17,300 ongoing jobs; an estimated $3 billion in GDP annually once built; and $631 million in tax revenue to support services for Canadians.
