Ottawa approves port expansion in Delta, B.C., subject to 370 conditions

A controversial plan to build a new shipping container terminal at a major Metro Vancouver port has been given the green light.

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority proposed the three-berth marine terminal, which has been contemplated since the 1990s. It estimates the expansion will cost more than $2 billion.

On Thursday, the federal government approved the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project, subject to 370 legally binding conditions.

“We're delighted to see this project get approval and to be able to move it forward. It's a critical project for Canada,” said Robin Silvester, president & CEO of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.

The terminal would be built next to the existing Deltaport and Westshore terminals at Roberts Bank in Delta.

Silvester said the port will need more capacity by the end of the decade and that’s why the expansion is necessary. Adding Roberts Bank Terminal 2 would double the container capacity.

“We're running out of container capacity here in Canada's largest port on the West Coast. So it's critical to create more capacity to be able to continue to grow those trade relationships, for economic benefits for the economy at large and to make sure goods are in stores across the country at prices Canadians can afford,” he said.

The project been studied extensively since 2013.

In 2020, a federally appointed independent review panel found the project would have “significant adverse” effects on southern resident killer whales.

The port has since changed its original proposal to reduce harmful effects, but some environmentalists remain concerned.

Charlotte Dawe, a conservation and policy campaigner with the Wilderness Committee, said she was disappointed by Ottawa’s decision.

“I was shaking with sadness for all of the species that will be doomed by this project,” she told CTV News. “The southern residents can't find the salmon because it's too loud. And the salmon are having to cross multiple barriers to get out into the ocean safely. And so, species are already faced with too many risks.”

The port authority maintains it has considered the environmental concerns and has come up with ways to mitigate risks.

“We're going to be creating about 567 hockey rinks worth of habitat as part of the work to make sure this project is delivered in the right way environmentally, as well as delivering all those economic benefits,” Silvester said.

It's not just marine life that's at risk, but also jobs, according to a union that represents port workers.

The port authority said the project is a semi-automated terminal, but Rob Ashton, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada, is skeptical.

“All the paperwork that we've been given on terminal 2 was all horizontal equipment will be automated. That's every piece of equipment at the terminal,” Ashton said. “This isn't a semi-automated terminal. This is a fully automated terminal. No matter what anybody tells you.”

He is worried Robert Banks Terminal 2 will follow in the footsteps of a terminal in Long Beach, Calif., where one automated terminal was the start of several.

“They approved one automated terminal, and now they have three and possibly a fourth on the way. It's the domino effect is what we're dealing with,” he explained.

If that domino effect reaches B.C. ports, he estimates it would result in up to 4,000 job losses.

But the port authority maintains the new port will not be fully automated, and will instead create more than a thousand terminal jobs and 17,000 new jobs in the supply chain.

Now, the port authority must get permit approvals before shovels hit the ground, which Silvester estimates will be in two years.

With files from The Canadian Press