The Barry Group currently ships about 4,000 containers of its seafood products to market from Newfoundland and Labardor.
Most of that has to be done through the port of Halifax.
The Corner Brook-based fishing company, whose operations in the Bay of Islands date back to the mid-1850s, is hoping plans to expand facilities at the port of Corner Brook will change its exporting business model.
At a news conference Friday, Aug.30, the Corner Brook Port Corporation announced plans to invest $11 million in infrastructure designed to attract more international shipping business.
The money, which will come from a mix of public and private funding, will be spent on the purchase of a mobile harbour crane and two reach stackers. These will be used in conjunction with the fixed-pedestal crane already at the port to more efficiently load and unload container ships.
Eventually, when and if the demands of the international export markets grow, the plans call for the construction of a new warehouse facility at the port.
That all fits well with the Barry Group’s own plans for expansion, said the company’s president.
At the news conference to announce the funding, Bill Barry mentioned the company has invested $3 million to upgrade its plant in Humber Arm South to better handle its harvest of ocean perch.
The company also has big plans for its Corner Brook plant.
The oldest section of the facility in Curling is going to be torn down and replaced with a new, two-storey building to handle perch and herring operations.
In addition, there are plans for a new, 150-tonne capacity cold storage facility at the Corner Brook site.
Barry said that work is going to be done this winter and expects it to be completed by around next July.
That would open the door for the Barry Group to start shipping the products from its 12 plants around the province to international markets from Corner Brook, especially if the port corporation’s plans come to fruition.
“The fact we potentially will have infrastructure here where we can have (an international) container service operating out of Corner Brook is a big deal for transportation costs, delivery and controlling our inventory,” Barry said after the news conference.
“Our plans will be to expand our cold storage facilities so other products on the island will be coming to Corner Brook and this will be a distribution hub.”
Barry said this is not just about his company’s bottom line, but the regional economy as a whole.
“It will create work here and keep the work in Corner Brook,” he said. “It’s not only for our own business, but it’s for other companies on the island who have to ship containers overseas through places like Halifax.”
He emphasized that opportunity cannot become a reality without having the infrastructure in place first, so he applauded the efforts of everyone involved in helping the port of Corner Brook position itself to become a bigger player in international shipping.
Jackie Chow, the Corner Brook Port Corporation’s chief executive officer, said the port is working closely with Logistec, the company currently handling stevedoring services on the Corner Brook waterfront, in negotiations with an international shipping company.
“It’s coming along quite nicely,” she said of those talks. “We’re very pleased with our progress on that side.”
Chow said a new international shipping service will not only benefit the seafood industry, but other natural resource sectors such as the forest products — including newsprint — and mining industries.
The port has been without a regular freight carrier since domestic carrier Oceanex pulled out of the city in 2011. Picking up an international shipping service would not exclude the return of more domestic business as international ships would not be allowed to ship from one Canadian destination to another.
While more international business might create more demand for more domestic traffic, Chow said the efficiencies created by new infrastructure will be just as much an incentive for other shippers to start considering Corner Brook.
“Having the port-handling equipment to be able to move containers and load vessel within their time constraints will allow carriers to come here without investing a lot of money,” she said.
Why a new crane?
The port first installed a fixed–pedestal crane in 2008 because the Corner Brook dock’s capacity for operating a heavy mobile crane in Corner Brook was limited.
Chow said crane technology has advanced since then and the new crane the port plans to acquire will not require any reinforcement modifications to the dock.
She said the new crane will be lighter and the outriggers deployed to stabilize the crane are going to be much longer than normal. The longer outriggers disperse loads over a larger area and will open up more dock area in which the new mobile crane can operate.
Both the mobile and fixed cranes will work together to unload container ships.
She said being able to load and unload ships more quickly will be a crucial selling point in convincing any international shipping service to consider coming to Corner Brook.
Where the $11 million in funding for the Corner Brook Port Corporation is coming from:
- Government of Canada’s National Trade Corridors Fund: $5.5 million
- Corner Brook Port Corporation: $2.3 million
- Logistec: $1.7 million
- Government of Newfoundland and Labrador: $850,000
- Corner Brook Pulp and Paper: $625,000
Source: Corner Brook Port Corporation
