A new $100 million logistics and warehousing complex at the Port of Prince Rupert is being bankrolled with $60.7 million loan through the Canadian Infrastructure Bank.
The new 56-acre South Kaien Import Logistics Park is being developed as a joint venture between by the Prince Rupert Port Authority and the Metlakatla Development Corp. (MDC) – the economic development arm of the Metlakatla First Nation.
The $60.7 million loan comes from the Canadian Infrastructure Banks’s Indigenous Community Infrastructure Initiative. The Metlakatla Development Corp. also received $43.3 million from the National Trade Corridors Fund for the project.
“MDC acquired the South Kaien lands in fee simple in 2019," said MDC CEO Harold Leighton. "We envision these lands as an integral part of the Prince Rupert Gateway and other commercial uses.
"However, SKILP is step one: MDC plans to develop the remaining 280 acres in subsequent phases to support regional growth and provide economic opportunities for the region and next generation of Metlakatla members.”
The loan will be used for infrastructure needed to develop a new logistics warehouse near the port’s Fairview Terminal, CN Rail and CANXPORT facility.
The port authority notes that the new logistics facility has access to a deep-water port, a CN Rail line, provincial highway and inter-modal gateway.
It will complement the new CANXPORT project, a large-scale export transloading and logistics facility now under construction on Ridley Island. That project also has received $150 million from the CIB.
Much of the space of the new logistics park is being pre-leased, with IntermodeX being the anchor tenant. IntermodeX will be the port’s first major import logistics operator, the port authority said in a news release.
The project’s primary construction contractor is Coast Tsimshian Northern Contractors Alliance (CTNCA), an Indigenous-led joint venture between Coast Tsimshian Enterprises and IDL Projects Inc.
In a news release, the CIB says that subsequent phase of the project will include private sector investment in transloading and warehousing infrastructure.
“This will create approximately 100,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units of capacity to transload marine containers into domestic 53-foot containers, providing much needed capacity, flexibility and resiliency for Canadian supply chains,” the CIB said.
