Posted on August 30, 2016
A bulk material transshipment terminal at the port of Sydney plans to move ahead with expansion plans it initially outlined more than four years ago.
Provincial Energy Ventures president Ernie Thrasher indicates the area of the proposed dredge around his company’s pier on Friday. PEV’s manager Jimmy Graham and Cape Breton Regional Municipality Mayor Cecil Clarke, in the background, take a look at the Atlantic Canada Bulk Terminal site. The company says it likely will be ready in 2017 to begin its expansion project, which has been delayed for more than four years due to low commodity prices.
Provincial Energy Ventures president Ernie Thrasher said he believes commodity prices have finally “bottomed out” and are beginning to rebound.
The company’s Atlantic Canada Bulk Terminal is located on what used to be the Sydney steel plant wharf. It has been in operation since 2001.
In 2012, Thrasher proposed a $75-million expansion project to accommodate larger vessels but only a small part of the project has been completed since then.
During a site tour Friday, he said PEV is prepared to begin a dredging project — likely in 2017 — to remove an estimated 360,000 cubic metres of harbour bed material around the company’s dock to increase the water depth at the pier to 17.5 metres.
When completed, the terminal will have an on-site maximum storage capacity of 700,000 tonnes of bulk aggregate.
It will be able to ship about three million tonnes of coal per year. Most of the coal is shipped from mines in Pennsylvania and West Virginia through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway.
There is talk of a “co-ordinated” dredging project with other port users such as McKeil Marine, Logistec’s international coal pier, and the potential build of a second cruise ship berth at the Sydney Marine Terminal that would reduce the costs associated with the dredge.
“All the parties that want to get the benefit of the increased depth of the harbour is to (undertake) that dredging in a co-ordinated effort because most of the cost is mobilization and demobilization of the dredging equipment,” Thrasher said.
Like the $38-million dredge of Sydney harbour in 2011, a further dredge would require regulatory approvals, permits and consultation with the First Nations community and industry stakeholders such as fishermen.
With dredging activity in Sydney harbour likely to happen next year or in 2018, Cape Breton Regional Municipality Mayor Cecil Clarke believes it could open the door in assisting other players on the harbour into taking on smaller dredging projects.
The Northern Yacht Club in North Sydney, the Canadian Coast Guard College in Westmount and a nearby property owned by Membertou First Nation are a few examples Clarke highlighted that could benefit economically from deeper water.
“How do we help do those as civic projects rather than commercial projects for them. That’s the discussion that needs to be held,” the mayor said.
“If we could help Membertou’s site improve any access to their wharf and facility, it also helps the coast guard college and that would be part of that discussion and negotiation about what we can achieve.”
Clarke said deepening the harbour bed at the Northern Yacht Club by “an extra metre” could open up that side of the harbour to small cruise ships if other vessels are tied up at the Sydney Marine Terminal.
“The other types of smaller cruise ships — the specialty ships — need more depth. It’s not a huge dredge. They need to be able to accommodate new types of business that are actually looking at the harbour and that’s where the local yacht club can then benefit from berthing fees,” he added.
None of the costs associated with these potential projects have been worked out. Negotiations would have to determine who pays what, although Clarke referred to the dredge at the yacht club as a civic project where it wouldn’t be required to cost-share the dredge.
The only figure Clarke provided certainty on was the dredging required for a second cruise ship berth. He estimated the cost to the CBRM at “under $1 million.”
Even with those ideas still very much in the discussion stage, Thrasher said PEV’s expansion plans would go ahead regardless of other port users need for dredging.
“Our licence and permits have already been issued and we’re actually waiting for the business climate to improve, which is improving,” he said.
The construction of a berm, water collection ponds, expanded dust suppression systems, and engineering work and permits has cost PEV approximately $12 million to date.
Thrasher said he expects the project could be completed for less than the $75-million price tag quoted four years ago.
That’s primarily based on the current condition of international commodity markets.
“My sense would be we may see a 15 to 20 per cent reduction in our cost because of the current market environment for the types of products and materials we need.”
The dredge around the dock would cost an estimated $7 million to $9 million, he said.
The expansion could result in the creation of 20 to 25 jobs at Provincial Energy Ventures, Thrasher said.
Source: Cape Breton Post
