Manitoba envisions route straight into heart of Asia

November 3, 2010

The following is excerpted from the 2 November 2010 edition of “theglobeandmail.com”

When drawing lines to figure out potential trade routes between Canada and Asia, landlocked Winnipeg hardly springs to mind.

But Manitoba is pushing hard to turn Canada’s Arctic into an international trade zone, and aims to transform Winnipeg into an air-cargo hub to and from Asia, while converting the underutilized Port of Churchill into a bustling site handling containers of consumer goods from China.

The idea has gathered so much steam that delegates from China, Russia and Nunavut will join political, academic and transportation leaders from Manitoba next week to develop plans to create the Canadian Arctic gateway to Asia.

“The northern Arctic gateway is one of the key assets that we could develop for the future of trade in Canada,” Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger said in an interview Tuesday. “We think the opportunity is enormous, and we should seize on it.”

Any development plans would recognize the potential of Arctic shipping routes expected to be made accessible year-round by global warming and new ice-breaking vessels, while taking into account the impact on first nations communities.

The three-day international conference will begin in Winnipeg on Monday, with Manitoba already drawing keen interest from Ottawa and the private sector.

“It’s about sustainable communities and climate change, and the conference will help us develop a broader public policy perspective on the role that the Arctic gateway can play in future,” Mr. Selinger said.

Denver-based OmniTrax Inc., which operates the seasonal Port of Churchill and the Hudson Bay Railway Co.’s freight service between Winnipeg and the town of Churchill, is one of the key private-sector participants in the proposal.

The Port of Churchill, located on the southwestern part of Hudson Bay, is a deep-water terminal that already exports bulk commodities such as grain and could be upgraded to handle imports of intermodal freight – goods transported inside standardized metal containers that are readily transferred between ships, trains and trucks. Imported products could be directed from Winnipeg to railway terminals in the United States.

“It won’t happen overnight, but it’s something that can’t linger, either,” said Diane Gray, chief executive officer of Winnipeg-based CentrePort Canada, an agency that oversees a fledgling “inland” hub for the rail, truck and air transport industries in Manitoba’s capital...

Planned upgrades to rail corridors in Russia and China will speed up transit times from the current minimum of 23 days between Beijing and Winnipeg. It’s estimated that freight from Beijing to Murmansk in Russia currently takes nine or 10 days by train, then another 12 days by ship from Murmansk to Churchill and a final two days on the rails from Churchill to Winnipeg. Deliveries could be up to four days faster once the overseas rail upgrades are completed within the next two years or so, Ms. Gray said.

Most goods shipped from Asia destined for Canada currently arrive at West Coast ports in Vancouver and Prince Rupert...

A report by PPM Public Policy Management Ltd., commissioned by the University of Winnipeg, submits that “the primary question about designating a national Arctic gateway for Canada is no longer about whether it is a good idea, or whether it should be pursued.” Instead, “the relevant questions now are about how to proceed to make it a reality,” said the 26-page discussion paper.

“The investments in northern transportation infrastructure and the careful development of international Arctic shipping and economic activity now within the gateway framework will have significant paybacks for Canada in the immediate future and in decades to come,” the paper said.


Topic(s): 
Canadian Economy & Politics
Information Source: 
Canadian News Channel
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