Jim Quinn’s Big Plans for Port Saint John
SAINT JOHN–It’s no surprise that Jim Quinn became CEO of Port Saint John, it’s kind of in his blood.
“My dad was a harbour pilot, my uncle was a harbour pilot and my great grandfather and grandfathers before that were all harbour pilots and seagoing people,” Quinn says.
Quinn was one of seven children growing up in Saint John’s south end. His brothers and sisters all became doctors and nurses, but his calling was the sea.
“In my second year of university I sat down with my brother and had a discussion saying ‘you know, I really don’t want to do what the rest of you guys are doing,'” Quinn says. “I just couldn’t visualize in the future not being outside on ships. I wanted to be a harbour pilot.”
When he graduated from university, Quinn started working on Irving Oil tankers. When an injury hindered his eyesight, Quinn came ashore to take an assignment with the Coast Guard in Ottawa. From there he found himself working for the Privy Council Office and other federal government departments until about five years ago.
That’s when Quinn returned home to be with his ailing brother. It just so happened that at this time there was an opening for Port Saint John CEO.
He got the job, obviously.
“I’m thrilled about it because it was kind of full circle for me in a sense that up the street is where I grew up and just about block away is where I went up my first gangway when I was 16 or 17-years-old,” Quinn says.
Like Saint John itself, the port is pretty old. Quinn knew this going in. He also knew that held back the positive economic impact the port could have in New Brunswick. For the past four years he has been working relentlessly to secure funding to modernize its facilities.
“A lot of our assets are very old. The limitations of the structures and water depths create issues,” Quinn says. “Things like that limited the types of things we’re able to do in terms of attracting services into the port.”
The world of shipping is also changing rapidly.
“There’s consolidation of lines, there’s consolidation of cargos which leads to larger vessels. If you want to be in the game, you’ve got to be able to support that with the right infrastructure and the right services to attract those shipping lines to your port,” Quinn says.
In a time of fiscal restraint, the Port managed to convince the federal and provincial government to pony up $68 million each towards the $205 million dollar project.
It’s a smart investment according to Quinn. “The port is a real key if you will to help in the overall economic position of our province, and quite frankly, our country,” he says.
The modernization project will help the Port attract new business by:
1) Deepening the main channel and berths alongside the container terminal
The main channel will be deepened 8.4 m to 10 m and the berths at the container terminal from 12.2 m to 15.2 m. The deepening project will allow both container and cargo ships to have a longer operational window on the tides.
2) Lengthening and strengthening the pier structure
The container pier at Rodney Terminal will be lengthened from 435 m to 667 m by extending it to the current end of Pier 2. In carrying out this lengthening at Rodney Terminal, it will also lengthen the slip of Pier 2 from 315 m to 455 m. The entire wharf structure will also be strengthened to allow for the load bearing capacity to go from 12 KPA (250 lbs/ft2) to 96 KPA (2000 lbs/ft2).
3) New Intermodal yard & Improved truck access to the port
A new intermodal yard will be built behind at the back of the property, located around the lower west side of Saint John. There will also be a new entrance into the Port. Right now, there is only a single lane in and a single lane out. It’s all manual and traffic gets congested. The plan is to make the entrance three lanes in and three lanes out and semi-automated, meaning, containers of cargo will have a trackable UPC code.
Quinn says the actual construction will begin in about 15 months. Before then, they need to undergo detailed engineering, design and core sampling.
[mks_highlight color=”#ede621″]Hear more about the Port’s modernization project and what it’s like to be Port CEO in our Huddle Podcast:[/mks_highlight]