Port Saint John Modernization Project Gets Down to Business
SAINT JOHN – Work on Port Saint John’s $205 million West Side Modernization Project has officially begun.
The project, which is being funded by both the federal and provincial government and the Port, includes deepening the main channel and berths alongside the port’s container terminal, lengthening and strengthening the pier structure and constructing new Intermodal yard and improved truck access to the port.
Port Saint John recently awarded the project’s design and engineering contract to Saint John-based joint venture firm Hatch Dillon. The firm has experience working on marine infrastructure projects at major ports throughout Canada and the United States.
The joint venture team includes a collaboration with Baird and Associates, Conquest Engineering and Vickerman & Associates.
“It’s been a real treat to be involved in this project to date, working with representatives at the port. One can’t [help but] be impressed by the magnitude and how monumental this development is, especially if you look back at some of the old photos and engineering that has been completed to date,” says Geoff Allaby of Hatch Dillon.
“We’re excited to be involved in such a monumental project in our backyard. We’re a local team and it’s not often we get to be involved in this magnitude of a project without having to get on a plane and go somewhere else.”
Engineering studies began last week at the port with environmental drilling. This fall, the Port will release the RFP for the construction phase of the project, which is expected to be rewarded later this year or early 2018. The construction is expected to take three to four years, which will be followed by the dredging of the main channel.
After working to get the project planned and funded for six years, Port Saint John CEO Jim Quinn says it’s great to see work finally happening.
“We started this journey in 2011 and these [projects] take time,” says Quinn. “You’ve got to put a lot of effort into lining support up and that includes support from governments, but also support and advice from your community and they played a tremendous role in getting us to this point.”
Quinn says the modernization project is essential for keeping the port competitive in today’s shipping economy.
“If we hadn’t taken the step to begin this modernization process, you just have to look at the trends in the shipping world to see where the shipping world is going.
“We would have become a smaller niche port that would always be important in terms of liquid bulk in particular, but [with] some of the things that are happening in the world of containers, for example, we would have been left behind.”
Once completed in 2024, the upgrades to the port are expected to bring a $152 million boost to New Brunswick’s GDP, $35.4 million in tax revenue, a $109.6 boost in labour income and $84 million in consumer spending. The creation of 1,093 direct and indirect jobs are expected to be created over the life of the terminal once it’s completed.
“We’re setting the future for our port and I think in the years to come, we will prove this was absolutely an essential thing to do,” says Quinn. “Our board, our directors, could see that and agreed and set the tone and we’re moving forward.”