The Canadian Press, March 10, 2015

A container terminal at a northern B.C. port has announced an expansion that will increase the facility’s capacity by 500,000 containers.

Maher Terminals says it’s expanding its operations at the Prince Rupert Port to allow it to handle 1.3 million containers per year, up from its current capacity of 850,000 units.

The Prince Rupert Port Authority says construction of the expansion at the Fairview Container Terminal is scheduled to start between April and June of this year and be finished by 2017.

The port authority says container traffic through the facility has increased at a faster pace than at any other port in North America, with 2014 volume 15 per cent higher than 2013.

Maher Terminals says the expansion will add a deep-water ship berth, four cranes, a bigger container yard and more railroad track.

Prince Rupert’s port is the second largest on Canada’s West Coast, and the closest North American port to Asia.