Nanaimo Port Authority’s vehicle processing facility project at its assembly wharf received a $6.3-million injection of cash from the Government of Canada Wednesday
As reported in April, the port authority announced a joint venture with Western Stevedoring and the automotive division of U.S. based SSA Marine, to redevelop the assembly wharf into a multipurpose terminal that will house a 5,574 square metre import vehicle processing centre, where cars coming to Canada from Europe will have work done to meet Canadian standards – 10,000 to 12,000 vehicles are anticipated to be processed initially. Minister of Transport Marc Garneau was in Nanaimo on Wednesday morning to make the funding announcement and said the $6.3 million comes from the National Trade Corridors Fund, part of $2 billion set aside for long-term infrastructure needs.
Two-hundred jobs are expected during construction and another 100 is expected when the facility is fully functional. Michelle Corfield, port authority chairwoman, said the money will be a boon for Nanaimo’s economy. Corfield said it was a huge announcement for Nanaimo and the GDP will grow exponentially because of it. The port is expecting the first ship to arrive in January 2019, Corfield said.
“The $6.3 million is to help support the build and to create the processing centre,” said Corfield. “So that’s where it’s going. It’s going right here in Nananimo. All the jobs are staying in Nanaimo. It’s a locally driven project.”
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Garneau said the funding is specifically to address trade corridors.
“How efficiently we move our goods to market and it’s not a quota for each province, it’s individual projects are assessed on their merit and we found that this project had a high degree of merit and we think it will be good not only locally here, but it will make our
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“This involves not only the port of Nanaimo, but many, many other partners and it involves all of our local industry, including Jones Marina, Western Stevedoring, B.C. Pilot, everybody’s included in this project and it takes everybody working together to enable this to happen and come to fruition,” said Corfield. “This is just an amazing opportunity.”
– With files from Chris Bush
reporter@nanaimobulletin.com
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