Melford 'ideal' for container terminal, says MacIsaac
Strait area touted as new trade link
GUYSBOROUGH - The Strait of Canso area could play a pivotal role in an emerging Atlantic Gateway Strategy. That's a plan to invest in ports, air, railways, border services and highway networks to ensure the region is competitive in international trade and commerce. According to Minister of Transportation and Antigonish MLA Angus MacIsaac, Nova Scotia is strategically positioned to be a global hub for trade to North America. And the Strait of Canso is well positioned to play a key role in that hub.
Increasing use of the Suez Canal to transport goods from China and India to North America, and increased congestion at West Coast ports, puts the province in a competitive position, says MacIsaac.
The minister said the provincial government is interested in both increasing capacity at Halifax and using available lands and the deep water ports of the Strait area as a means of meeting changing needs in the container shipping industry.
"The Suez Canal route would take ships into the Atlantic and it places Nova Scotia as one of the first pieces of land to accept these ships."
Another factor that could impact the role of the Strait of Canso in the Atlantic Gateway Strategy is the growing size of container ships. MacIsaac notes that some being built now will be twice as big as what are currently on the water.
"As the size of the ships increases, the number of ports that can handle them decreases. Therefore Nova Scotia becomes a preferred location to receive these ships."
The provincial government is undertaking a $125,000 study to get a professional view of the potential future impact of these changing trade realities on the province.
With or without the Atlantic Gateway Strategy, a new container terminal may be coming to the Strait.
"I know that there are currently…two companies that are looking at the Strait area as a container terminal," notes MacIsaac. "So it's not a pipe dream that we're looking at."
MacIsaac says container terminals need a lot of space to handle containers and prepare them for future shipments. In light of this, he says the Melford area of Guysborough County is an attractive option for this kind of development in the Strait.
The Melford area in the District of Guysborough includes a 14,000-acre parcel of land set aside as an industrial park. The municipality recently rezoned four parcels of land to provide water access to the industrial park. This new M-3 rezoning allows for a number of possible heavy industrial uses in the area, including marine/container terminals, power-generation plants and LNG facilities.
"That piece of property is ideal for that purpose," says MacIsaac.
The Municipality of Guysborough is in ongoing discussions with interested parties about industrial development in Melford. Warden Lloyd Hines says these talks are progressing well and he is optimistic about the future of the Melford area, although confidentiality agreements prevent him from revealing any specific details about plans for the site. Hines did tell The Journal, however, that the municipality is working to acquire parcels of land in the Melford area for future development purposes.
The gateway concept was developed by Vancouver business interests with respect to a Pacific Gateway Strategy. This initiative caught the interest and support of the federal government. About a year ago, the Halifax Gateway Council was established to promote that city's role as an Atlantic gateway.
When Premier Rodney MacDonald took office recently, one of his first Orders in Council contained a provision to establish an Atlantic Gateway Initiative, to be overseen by the Minister of Transportation with involvement from the Department of Economic Development. MacIsaac says the government wants to work with the Halifax Gateway Council, "but we want to ensure that the broader interests of the province are taken into consideration with regards to the Atlantic Gateway Strategy."
Noting that 40 per cent of Canada's GDP is dependent on trade, MacIsaac says "we have to be very much in tune with what's happening in trade and able to respond to changing conditions." Those changing conditions currently include growth of China's and India's economies, both involving increased trade to North America.
In additon to improvements to ports, MacIsaac says highway improvements will have to be a key part of the Atlantic Gateway Strategy. For example, he says if more trucks will be transporting goods from the Strait area to the US, highway congestion in the Antigonish area will have to be addressed.
MacIsaac adds that the province wants to work with its neighbours, in particular New Brunswick, in the development of an investment strategy for transportation and trade. For example, the minister says the highway between St. John and Calais, Maine, is currently not twinned.
"We would have an interest in the future twinning of that highway," he says. "If we achieve our potential with regards to the gateway in Nova Scotia, there would be a great deal of truck traffic making its way through New Brunswick to New England."
All of this will cost a lot of money. That's why MacIsaac says it's crucial that the federal government embraces the concept. The minister said he recently met with the federal minister of transportation, along with Central Nova MP and Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter MacKay about the gateway, a meeting he described as "encouraging."
