Fraser Surrey Docks could soon be home to two huge grain and potash terminals.
Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner is embracing the projects, but Delta鈥檚 mayor has concerns about access for emergency crews.
Hepner called it a 鈥渕ajor opportunity鈥� for and expects it won鈥檛 create 鈥渁nywhere near the anxiety that coal did from the Fraser Surrey Docks 鈥� I think it鈥檚 great.鈥�
鈥淚 think everybody would be supportive of those products being exported out of Surrey to places around the world, I鈥檓 assuming it鈥檚 probably more particularly to Asia, but I also believe that they are products the community would stand behind, both grain and potash,鈥� Hepner said. 鈥淪o, I think it鈥檚 a great economic boon, I don鈥檛 have anything bad to say about it.
鈥淲e can as a community can raise concerns,鈥� she noted, 鈥渂ut ultimately the products that go through the port are national in determinance and the federal government will ultimately decide if it鈥檚 in the national best interest for trade and I would say in my opinion this city would have no objection to that trade and I wouldn鈥檛 be asking for anything other than to better understand, they鈥檙e going to be building as I understand it a new building.鈥�
Hepner said she assumes 鈥渃ontrol mechanisms for dust and whatever else would happen with that product, but I don鈥檛 have any issues.鈥�
Fraser Grain Terminal Ltd. has submitted an application to the Port of Vancouver to build a grain terminal at 11041 Elevator Rd. that would handle four million tones of grain per year, at the site of a terminal that currently deals with a half-million tonnes per year. An estimated 309 trains would deliver the grain by rail through Surrey, along the CN rail mainline, and most of it would be loaded directly onto 62 ocean-going ships each year.
Moreover, roughly 600,000 tonnes of grain would be loaded into containers and put on ships or trucked to Deltaport and other terminals.
Delta Mayor Lois Jackson said it鈥檚 鈥渧ery early鈥� days yet in the project. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a long process, as you can appreciate.鈥�
鈥淲e were most concerned about the fact that we don鈥檛 have easy access from the South Fraser Perimeter Road onto the docks. Remember the big fire we had down there this summer? Our guys had to go all the way up to Tannery Road, turn all the way around and come all the way back down 鈥� a long time to wait.鈥�
Jackson said a 鈥減roper overpass鈥� is needed to connect the port with the docks.
Meantime, BHP Billiton is proposing to build an eight million tonne per year potash terminal at the docks, and is currently under environmental review by the Port of Vancouver. Potash is a mineral salt used to produce fertilizer and the proposed terminal would be on the site of the current container terminal at Surrey Fraser Docks.
If approved, 10 trains of potash would be delivered to the docks weekly from a Saskatchewan mine by way of covered trains along the CN rain mainline through Surrey.
These two projects are in addition to the already approved direct transfer coal facility at the docks which would see the exporting of four million tonnes of coal each year.
鈥淭his project is currently in the process of a judicial review and there has not been any work done towards building the facility due to current economic conditions related to the export of thermal coal,鈥� Sean McGill, Delta鈥檚 director of corporate services, noted in a report to Delta鈥檚 council.
More to come鈥�
tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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