It was a record-setting year at Winnipeg’s inland port in 2019.
More than $117 million of development and building permits were issued at CentrePort Canada for industrial space totalling more than 725,000 square feet in the rural municipality of Rosser.
Diane Gray, CEO of CentrePort, which is also Manitoba’s foreign trade zone, said development activity “skyrocketed” last year with the value of building permits jumping 1,000 per cent from 2018.
“There will be ongoing construction activity for the foreseeable future because of the strong demand,” she said.
Some of the most notable projects currently under construction include Rosenau Transport’s 71,000-square-foot transportation and warehouse facility, Merit Functional Foods’ $65 million pea and canola processing plant, the National Research Council’s $60 million advanced manufacturing program building and Freightliner Manitoba’s 78,000-square-foot facility.
Most of the investment capital at CentrePort has been private but the total thus far is already in excess of $1 billion.
“There’s a lot of capital investment so far but billions of dollars more to come,” Gray said.
The CentrePort team has also been working diligently to get the CP Rail park, a 665-acre project, into the ground. A request for proposal went out in the summer of 2018 and a development partner has been selected.
“It’s going to be a massive deal,” Gray said. “It’s not only a very significant industrial development that will be rail-served, but the companies that locate there will be investing in capital construction and their operating costs.”
