August 27, 2026 | Category: Published Articles

(Published in Business in Vancouver)

Prince Rupert is powering up Canada's trade ambitions

Prince Rupert is accustomed to cloudy forecasts.

But beyond the clouds a different forecast emerging, as Prince Rupert is becoming one of the brightest spots in Western Canada.

Major investments by Ray-Mont Logistics, IntermodeX (an SSA Marine enterprise), CN, Trigon Pacific Terminals, and a partnership between AltaGas and Vopak, tell the story. Together, they represent hundreds of millions of dollars in private-sector investment and growing confidence in Prince Rupert’s role in connecting Western Canada to the world.

A gateway growing in both directions

Prince Rupert, Canada’s third-largest port, handled 26.3 million tonnes of cargo, up 14% from the previous year, with container traffic growing by 20% in 2025.

A new wave of investment is positioning the gateway for further growth.

Today marks the opening of Ray-Mont Logistics’ CANXPORT export logistics platform, a nearly $750 million investment in its first phase. The 54-acre facility has capacity for more than 700 railcars and 400,000 TEUs of annual container throughput, with the potential to increase capacity to 750,000.

CANXPORT will receive Canadian commodities by rail, then transload and package them into containers for export.

Phase I is expected to add five million tonnes of export capacity without requiring new marine berths. By 2030, CANXPORT should account for roughly 65     % of Prince Rupert’s containerized exports. Over 100 local jobs are already associated with the project, with 200 expected at full ramp-up.

IntermodeX’s LinX, meanwhile, will provide 90,000 TEUs of annual import transload capacity, with room to expand to 150,000. At its initial capacity, the facility is estimated to enable between $5 billion and $9 billion in trade annually. Construction will support 125 jobs, 200 permanent positions and advance longer-term economic participation with the Metlakatla First Nation.

CANXPORT and LinX show how Prince Rupert will improve container flows, strengthen supply-chain resilience and make better use of rail and marine infrastructure. But the gateway’s growth extends beyond containerized trade. Trigon Pacific Terminals is completing its $185 million Berth 2 Beyond Carbon project, expected to enter service in September. Designed to handle both bulk solids and liquids, the new berth will nearly double Trigon’s terminal capacity.

Expanding Canada's energy gateway

Energy investment adds another dimension.

Since 2019, AltaGas has operated the Ridley Island Propane Export Terminal, the first liquid petroleum gas (LPG) export facility on the West Coast.

Now, the Ridley Island Energy Export Facility, is building on that success. Jointly owned by AltaGas and Vopak, commercial operations should commence in early 2027, initially exporting propane and butane. Planned optimization will add storage and capacity as market demand grows.

The site could accommodate additional export capacity and products beyond LPG to create a diversified energy-export hub.

A bigger picture

It would be easy to view these developments as unrelated investments. The more important story emerges when considering them together.

Each strengthens a different part of the same trade ecosystem and benefits from Prince Rupert’s defining advantage. Its location cuts sailing times to key Asian markets by as much as 60 hours compared with other Pacific Northwest ports.

Combined with deep-water marine access and direct rail connections, that advantage gives Prince Rupert an increasingly important role in Canada’s trade infrastructure.

Canada’s trade diversification ambitions depend not only on access to new markets, but on the physical capacity to get Canadian products there: ports, railways, roads, terminals and transload facilities, supported by communities capable of sustaining that growth.

Prince Rupert’s strategic advantage is not only future growth, it’s the combination of available capacity today and new capacity that illustrates how successful gateways grow.

To unlock Prince Rupert's potential, CN, Prince Rupert Port Authority and the federal government are investing more than $122 million into the expansion of the Zanardi Rapids Rail Bridge and causeway, a tangible example of this cycle of investment, capacity and growth already at work.

A bright forecast

For a small northern community, the scale of the transformation is striking.

But growth will bring challenges. Transportation, housing, utilities and community infrastructure capacity must keep pace. The country will also need predictable regulatory processes and coordinated infrastructure investment if private capital is to continue flowing.

Canada has spent considerable time talking about trade diversification, economic resilience and getting more products to global markets. Prince Rupert shows what happens when those ambitions are matched by the investment needed to make them real.