DP World completes $260m Vancouver port expansion

Dubai-headquartered DP World has completed the AED954 million ($259.78 million) Centerm expansion project, increasing container throughput by 60 percent at the Port of Vancouver.

The newly expanded terminal will handle 1.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year, compared to 900,000 TEUs previously, while adding 15 percent to the terminal’s overall footprint.

“This expansion is a significant investment in the future of international trade,” said Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, group chairman and CEO of DP World.

The project will ease the terminal’s environmental impact by adding capacity for container ships to connect to electrical shore power and converting its diesel yard cranes to electric. It will further reduce greenhouse gas emissions by eliminating wait times for vehicles at train crossings. 

Robin Silvester, president and CEO, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, added: “Expanding the footprint of the Centerm container terminal and improving road and rail links in the area will increase container trade capacity and resiliency at the Port of Vancouver in the near term.”

Vancouver Port handles one in every $3 of Canada’s trade in goods outside of North America, enabling the trade of $305 billion in goods and contributing $11.9 billion in GDP across Canada.

The expansion was completed by Centennial Expansion Partners (CXP), a joint venture between Dragados Canada, Jacob Brothers Construction and Fraser River Pile & Dredge Inc.

DP World has committed to investing $500 million globally over the next five years to help cut its carbon emissions by 700,000 tonnes to become a net-zero carbon enterprise by 2050.