The fury of the sub-prime crisis had yet to hit, the market crash and crisis in development financing was a year away and the recession that pounded international trade was yet to come.
But looking back, the numbers have largely held up. This year's building permit numbers have pulled back from last year's respectable tally of $19.5 million, the second-greatest in the past 25 years, but permits have consistently topped $10 million in each of the past four years.
Housing sales up
"Generally speaking, it's a very optimistic kind of market," said Victor Prystay, owner and managing broker of Royal LePage Prince Rupert.
While it's taken three years for the port to bear out the hopes of locals, Prystay notes that the first phase of the facility is now working at about 80 per cent capacity.
Originally, just two ships a week were coming to town, and none were stopping in on the way back to pick up outbound shipments. This left some longshoremen cutting grass at the local golf course or seeking other opportunities to make ends meet. Meanwhile, RoyOp backed off from plans for its retail complex.
This year, with larger ships - 8,500 TEUs, up from 5,000 TEUs - and exports starting to move through the port, longshoremen have jobs and the outlook is brighter. Once workers get used to having money, Prystay expects downtown commercial opportunities will open up. Residential property sales have already rebounded, topping $13.1 million in the first half of 2010, up from $8.6 million in the same period last year. The average sales price increased from $190,000 to $210,000.
"Prince Rupert has been really down on the port ever since it opened up because it opened up with huge expectations of job creation," he said. "[But] the first phase is approaching 80 per cent capacity, and if that's the case one has to think that the second-phase announcement has to be imminent."
The good news is that shipments stayed steady during the recession of 2008-09, and CN kept investing in the Prince Rupert to Prince George corridor. Double-tracking between Prince Rupert and Smithers is noticeable this summer, Prystay said, bearing out - as just every local booster in Prince Rupert will tell you sooner or later - the hopes Grand Trunk Railway manager Charles Hayes harboured for Prince Rupert a century ago (before he went down with the RMS Titanic).
"The model works, and it's proving itself and we're going to be good," Prystay said.
Shipments up
Prince Rupert Port Authority figures note container traffic increased 45.9 per cent in 2009 versus 2008; overall port traffic was up 15 per cent. The first quarter of 2010 saw total tonnage increase 72.8 per cent compared with the same period of 2009. Shipments from Asia can arrive in Chicago three days faster than via other ports, which helps the port compete against larger facilities.
Activity at the port is buoying local industrial land.
The property bought by FJM Investments hasn't been developed but it's bustling with logs and activity. And even the former Skeena Cellulose mill, which remains a contentious site in the community, is seeing interest from major (but undisclosed) players. Word is CN might be interested, though the city has yet to initiate formal negotiations for the Watson Island site.
Still, it's got potential: it's flat, the dock is capable of accepting 40,000-tonne vessels and road and rail connections make it fairly self-sufficient. "It's a no-brainer for some kind of activity that will support the container port," Prystay said. "The job-creation potential, I think, is absolutely huge."
According to an economic impact study Intervistas Consulting Inc. completed earlier, port and port-related operations support 1,300 direct jobs in the community.
Similarly, Landquest Realty Corp. has co-listed with Prystay's firm a 28-acre property about a kilometre from the container port.
Meanwhile, there are power-generation projects like BC Hydro's proposed Northwest Transmission Line project. A decision on the 335-km line from Terrace to Bob Quinn Lake north of Stewart, worth $400 million, is expected this fall.
All told, $26.3 billion in projects are proposed for the North Coast region.
But just $931 million are under construction, highlighting the challenges the region faces.
While the Northern Development Initiative Trust, a regional economic development corporation based in Prince George, has studied manufacturing opportunities in 21 communities as a result of the new Prince Rupert terminal and other transportation projects, getting projects started is easier said than done.
The trust's CEO, Janine North, said rising volumes through the new container facility in Prince Rupert have spurred optimism. Indeed, the mood in Prince Rupert even seems to have pulled ahead of Terrace, the retail centre of the region.
"There's more optimism in Prince Rupert than Terrace at this point," she said.
The next boost will come from announcement of the second phase of the port's container facilities and approval for the powerline north to Bob Quinn Lake, which could also provide power to mines such as Imperial Metals Corp.'s proposed copper-gold project near Iskut, a $228 million venture.
The optimism doesn't change the fact the North Coast-Nechako region suffers from 11.4 per cent unemployment, versus 6.2 per cent in the Northeast region where oil and gas activity is buoying fortunes.
"We're still more concerned about the Northwest than any other region," North said.
To bridge the gap, the trust established a $15 million program in spring 2010 that provides loan guarantees to eligible businesses.
from Western Investor, October 2010
