Lynnterm: built on lumber, moving to steel

Located on the North Shore of Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet, within a stone’s throw from the Second Narrows Bridge, Lynnterm not only provides break bulk cargo services to Western Canada’s industrial sector, but through Western Stevedoring, stevedore services to ports on the Mainland and Vancouver Island including the cruise industry and grain terminals at Port Metro Vancouver.

Most importantly, the terminal is situated on Vancouver’s inner harbor with unrestricted access and offers seven concrete berths 4,974 feet in length with a 50-foot depth at low water. Landside, Lynnterm has available eight warehouses custom designed for storing steel, forest products and general cargo with facilities for handling, stuffing and destuffing shipping containers. As with other North Shore terminals, Lynnterm is serviced exclusively by CN Rail with direct access to Eastern Canada, the U.S. cities of Chicago, Memphis, Mobile and New Orleans and interchange points with major railways in the U.S. and Canada. The terminal is also a short drive to the Trans-Canada Highway and the recently opened quick truck route that is part of the Asia-Pacific Corridor. The business office is open from 0800 to 1630 Monday to Friday; however the terminal itself operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The terminal’s break bulk equipment includes an on-line cargo tracking system, over 200 pieces of specialized equipment with 80,000 lb. and 60,000 lb. lift trucks for containers, heavy lifts and steel; 35,000 lb. lift trucks for wood pulp, lumber, steel and container handling; 15,000 lb. lift trucks for plywood, wood pulp and general cargo, a 6,000 lb. lift truck for railcar, general and containerized cargo. A wide range of fork, clamp and prong attachments and specialized gear for specific cargo applications. There are also tractor/trailer systems for transporting plywood, wood pulp and general cargo from/to ship and shed. Miles Hollingbury, Director, Marketing and Business Development, said Lynnterm is easily the largest stevedoring company in Vancouver based on tonnage and the amount of work the terminal has. Asked about cargo sectors Hollingbury said the base has always been forest products, particularly wood pulp, packaged lumber, and plywood. Packaged lumber from 15 years ago from when they’d do a billion board feet or more a year is down to a couple of hundred million now due to trade differences and the fact that an awful lot of it is going out in containers now. “We still have wood pulp and you could say that it’s our bread and butter that the terminal’s built around. We have lots of warehouses and special equipment. We’ll handle roughly a million and one-half tonnes this year. “In addition we like steel and we handle a lot of steel. Our imports of steel are up over 50% compared to last year which means we’ll do something like 600,000 tonnes this year compared to roughly 400,000 last year. “The top two would be pipe and rebar. The third would be steel coils and the fourth would be steel plate and various steel fabrications. “We also handle project cargo and we would like to handle more project cargo. It’s a growing business and we expect it to continue to grow. Most of the industrial projects are happening in Alberta and B.C., and if LNG goes ahead there’s going to be an awful lot of steel coming in, including modules which we include as project cargo as they are 80 foot by 12’X12’.” British Columbia’s most recent LNG news has been a mixed bag in recent weeks. British oil and gas producer BG Group PLC says it will be the next decade before it decides whether to go ahead with a liquefied natural gas export terminal in the province. And, oil and gas giant, Petronas, owned by the Government of Malaysia has said that it is thinking of backing away from its plans to build a multi-billion dollar plant in B.C. However, with 18 proposals on the table the provincial government is not terribly concerned at this point, particularly since Chevron Corporation said the government’s recently announced three percent tax on the industry is “an indication the British Government is very attentive to the realities of the industry” and said it plans to go ahead with its Kitimat LNG terminal. Together, Port Metro Vancouver, Lynnterm, Fraser Surrey Docks, the B.C. Trucking Association and the Provincial Government are working together to improve the high and heavy route between Vancouver and Edmonton, Alberta, with a view to changing the permitting process so a large move incurs less expense for the shipper and receives faster approvals. Looking down the road Hollingbury said volumes are expected to be maintained next year and could get better if any of the major projects, such as LNG, get shovels in the ground. It could mean hundreds of thousands of tonnes of steel and big components moving through the terminal, mostly from Asia. -