Terminals and facilities

As a Canada Port Authority, we are mandated to enable Canada’s trade through the Port of Vancouver. We lease out port lands and waters to companies that operate marine terminals and ship cargo through the port. We also work with port tenants and terminal operators to help them prepare for trade growth through the port.

We work with terminal operators to find opportunities to:  

• increase the capacity and efficiency of existing container terminals 
• convert existing under-utilized terminals to handle containers 
• build a new terminal 

In some cases, we take on a more proactive role in leading terminal projects, such as our involvement in helping to grow capacity for shipping container terminals at the Port of Vancouver. Globally, the use of containers to transport goods has been growing for decades. As a result of this growth, Canada’s West Coast ports are forecast to run out of terminal capacity for moving and storing shipping containers by the mid to late 2020s. As a port authority, we get involved in container capacity projects because, unlike other terminals, which each are owned and operated by single companies, container terminals are considered “common use”, which means the containers themselves are used by many different companies. By leading container terminal expansion and development projects, we are readying both the port and the port community to meet the growing demand for containerized cargo. 

Location	Project name	Type of improvement	Status
Roberts Bank	Tsawwassen Container Examination Facility Project	Construction of a new examination facility	Completed in 2020
	Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project	New container terminal	Approved by Government of Canada (April 2023); work to obtain other approvals and permits continues
South Shore Trade Area	Centerm Expansion Project	Improvements to existing container terminal	Completed in early 2023
	Sterling Shipyard Remediation and Infill Project	Remediation and infill project	Preliminary design and permitting
North Shore Trade Area	n/a
Fraser River Trade Area	Annacis Auto Terminal Optimization Project	Improvements to existing auto terminal	In construction