Winnipeg Has An Inland Port
by Scott A. Sumner
www.thunderbaybusiness.ca
An inland port, no water you might ask? I wondered as well so I asked Terry Remple, President and CEO of the Winnipeg Airport Authority. “ The simple definition for an inland port is- where anything that is done in a port but done inland. You don’t actually break bulk at the
port on the coast. One of the problems we have is we are taking shipments from a ship, say in Vancouver, and trying to split them in a restricted land mass with bad roads never designed to do that bulk piece. With an inland port you can then take those containers and don’t touch them until you get to an inland port where it is much more efficient to operate. That is the simple explanation,” said Remple. “ Where you are breaking the load in a inland port like in
Winnipeg you can also do value added work especially as we are now designated a foreign trade zone. That allows you to do that, break bulk and add value. For example you bring a computer sceen in from Asia, a keyboard from Mexico and a CPU from somewhere else. You put these pieces together and then ship it direct from there in the containers. An inland port becomes a congregate place for distribution, logistics and value added manufacturing.”
Above: Terry Remple, President and CEO Winnipeg Airport Authority, Steve Demming,President TBCEDC, Arthur Mauro, Chancellor Lakehead University. Fred Gilbert, President Lakehead University, Don Wing,Chairman of Thunder Bay Airport Authority
The Winnipeg Airport Authority have had supported from the province. They passed legislation that actually created Centre Port putting in 20,000 acres of land all around the airport and that is where transportation will happen. There was also tax increment financing to to be applied. The province worked with the federal level for infrastructure funding for the development road network within those 20,000 acres. “ There is no point doing those acres if
you can’t have water, sewer or road. That is what is going on now. Next spring the road will go in at a cost of $285 million. The 20,000 acres are primarily farm land right now. Centre Port will be a huge economic driver and has a number of benefits.The heavy truck traffic doesn’t have to go through town to get out . They will go straight to the perimeter north, south, east or west. We also have rail access and are near the airport. Intermodal connectivity is
where we see this as valuable.” noted Terry Remple.
Also happening at the Winnipeg Airport Authority is a new terminal construction. “ We have a $585 million construction commitment for the terminal and the services related to it such as road work and taxi ways. The airport campus in total is around $1 billion in construction with a new plant for Canada Post underway which will have the highest technology anywhere in Canada. Standard Aero has also announced their second expansion. We just completed their first expansion a month ago. The first created 120 jobs and the second will be 130
jobs. It is related to doing aircraft maintenance for companies like Westjet and Air Canada. The new terminal building is being financed with a $300 million bond issue. There is no government money from the government itself for this expansion,” said Remple.“ The airport board here in Thunder Bay have a very entrepreneurial spirit and more connection to the community. It is quite impressive. It is about getting back into what we have lost elsewhere. We have to take control of our own destiny. We will use the blessing of what God gave us such as geography and people and move our community forward. We would like Thunder Bay to join with us. There is no one who can do it on their own. Thunder Bay has some great assets such as the Port, the infrastructure, the people, networking and education. Thunder Bay can grow as well.”
Below: Terry Remple gave a very interesting presentation.=
