The report notes that over the longer term collaborative work is required between governments, and the private sector, as well as industry and labour associations to develop a strategy that would address potential infrastructure, security, border efficiencies and human resources needs that would optimize the Gateway in support of international commerce.
Copies of The Atlantic Gateway Business Case can be downloaded at:
http://www.acoa-apeca.gc.ca/e/library/reports/sectorFocussed/AtlanticGateway.shtml
The main conclusions of the business case are:
• With the Atlantic Gateway, Canada has the opportunity to capture a growing share of international trade.
• The value of the Atlantic Gateway is rooted in three key factors – competitive transit times, reliability and cost competitiveness.
• The Atlantic Gateway benefits the entire country by contributing to the development of an efficient and competitive national supply chain. This will also improve the productivity and competitiveness of businesses in Ontario, Québec and the Atlantic region that ship through Atlantic Canada.
• There are opportunities in the region, but there are also challenges. We are competing with the large US ports on the North American Eastern Seaboard. One of our first major challenges is communicating, through focused marketing, the benefits presented by Gateway.
Opportunity Analysis:
• The consultant recommends that we initially focus on growing the international container trade into the Atlantic region. We have a strong trading base to build upon and the consultants are projecting significant growth.
• With respect to international containers, the Atlantic Gateway has a strong business case rooted in three key factors –competitive transit times, reliability and cost competitiveness.
• The consultants’ recommendation is that marine containers should be the initial priority, but that other opportunities should also be pursued, in relative priority, to complete the Atlantic Gateway initiative:
o Air cargo – driven by distribution centre activity and the recapture of cargo currently diverted to airports outside of the region
o Air passenger – leveraging US pre-clearance and exploiting Canada’s international Blue Sky policy
o Cruise operations – home-porting potential and marketing the Atlantic Canada cruise product
Overall Benefits of the Atlantic Gateway
The main benefits generated by the development of the Atlantic Gateway are:
Increased Productivity and Competitiveness-
o The Atlantic Gateway would contribute to the productivity and competitiveness of businesses throughout Canada, including Ontario and Québec that would ship through Atlantic ports.
o Increased traffic volumes could reduce transport costs and create new business opportunities for Atlantic exporters;
o Additional cargo and passenger traffic flow in the region would generate high-paying jobs in transportation and logistics in Atlantic Canadian communities
Exports and Trade o The gateway would facilitate increased exports of Canadian-produced goods, which would create business growth and employment opportunities in a wide range of sectors.
Foreign Direct Investment o Gateway infrastructure would make the Atlantic region attractive to foreign firms looking to locate in North America
Tourism o Development of the Atlantic Gateway would provide Canada with enhanced connections to tourism markets around the world.
Provincial Fiscal Strength o Tax revenues would increase for the region’s governments.
Economic Benefits
• The economic impact of achieving the traffic projections for all Atlantic Gateway opportunities, including indirect and induced impacts, is estimated at 133,600 jobs, an increase of 61,100 (85%) over current levels.
• Atlantic Gateway opportunities would contribute to increases in jobs (61,100), wages ($2.12 billion), GDP ($3.43 billion) and output ($7.69 billion).
• The Atlantic Gateway has the potential to increase its container throughput from current levels of 720,000 TEUs to 2.04 million TEUs by 2025 (6.9% CAGR)
• Atlantic Gateway airports and cruise ports play an important role in facilitating tourism spending in the region. By 2025, the number of air passengers and cruise passengers utilizing the Atlantic Gateway is expected to increase to 9.1 million and 882,000, respectively. Tourism in 2025, as a result of the Atlantic Gateway, would employ up to 39,600 people and generate $6.3 billion in economic output.
• Total tax revenues to be generated by the Atlantic Gateway are estimated to reach $941 million by 2025, an increase of 83% over current levels.
[In general I think this will be excellent for the Atlantic provinces. So there's the Asia-Pacific Gateway & Corridor Initiative, the Ontario-Quebec Continental Gateway & Corridor, and now the Atlantic Gateway. So with this gateway thing the federal government is doing it looks like Canada will function more like one big integrated unit (or 3 big ones) rather than a whole bunch of bickering regions fighting each other. & it looks like everybody is on board also; it isn't just one government doing things unilaterally to someone/something else. The federal government, provincial governments, municipal governments, and the private sector have all bought into it, which is excellent. Why did this report have to go and spoil it by encouraging more foreign ownership our transportation infrastructure? -- NSay]
Stumble It!
The Atlantic Gateway, if it ever became a reality, would be an environmental disaster coupled with an economic one. The whole idea is based on the corporate globalization model and an escalation of economic growth coupled with the ability of North American consumers to continue to consume foreign imports at increasing levels.
The reality is that Nova Scotia does not have the tax base to invest in the massive new infrastructure required and would have to eliminate social spending to acquire the money (which is what the Harper government hopes will happen). There is no federal money attached to the plan as there was with the Pacific gateway.
Currently, Halifax is operating at one-half of its capacity because there is not enough traffic. Most imports go directly to Montreal or through New York and more southerly routes which are shorter and have the required infrastructure.
The Atlantic Gateway is a pipe-dream for AIMS and the Atlantica crowd and a convenient issue for politicians to milk before elections by promising unrealistic job creation figures.
re: environment I don't see how it could be an environmental disaster. Most of the infrastructure is already there, it just needs to be improved.
re: tax base there was a $33 billion infrastructure fund announced in the federal budget this year. They haven't announced what it will be spent on yet but I wouldn't be surprised if some got spent in the Atlantic provinces. The Asia-Pacific Gateway is much farther along than either the Atlantic Gateway or the Ontario-Quebec Gateway initiatives which might explain why there isn't an Atlantic Gateway fund (if the government plans on setting one up).
re: traffic @ Halifax the paper that was just released said the most important thing at the moment is marketing and raising the profile of Halifax in the shipping world. The authors of that article said they talked to 7 American shippers, two of which said they hadn't even heard of Halifax before. When asked if they would consider using Halifax more if the infrastructure was there all 7 said yes or possibly. Halifax has advantages similar to Prince Rupert on the west coast; Halifax has the deepest natural harbour on the East coast of North America & is hundreds of kilometres closer to Europe than NYC or Savannah. Savannah is growing extremely quickly though because the Georgia government is actively marketing the port & the distribution centres closeby. Also in the works is a major port on the Strait of Canso (between Cape Breton Island & the mainland NS), which apparently is an even better location for a port than Halifax.
re: job-creation rhetoric imagine a country/city like Singapore without its port. It's not like it's something just nice to have, it's more like an economic necessity. When containers get unloaded, it's better to have things to put into them & export them than to have empty containers just sitting around. In Prince Rupert for example, there's talk of exporting modular homes to Asia in the containers that arrive there. Because of Alcan nearby an auto parts industry could also start up in Terrace/Kitimat. Similar things could happen with this Atlantic Gateway thing. Governments just need to get behind it.
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"George Bush has declared the war on terrorism to be the cause of his generation. The cause of Canadian sovereignty will be ours." - John Godfrey, MP for Don Va
To upgrade infrastructure will also require the expropriation of hundreds if not thousands of acres of private land including environmentally sensitive lands.
Remember this concept is merely designed as a flow through idea. Very few actual jobs would be created within the region except for the facilities for unloading containers and transportation. After the initial construction employment would once again fall except for maintenance which would be the responsibility of local taxpayers.
When the federal government did away with the Atlantic Accord they undermined any potential for using off-shore development to build this new infrastructure by putting on immediate caps.
We are looking at infrastructure needs in the billions of dollars and so far the federal government has shown no commitment to the idea. In fact, the day Peter MacKay made the announcement Harper was in the west promising money for Churchill infrastructure. Peter MacKay has not been able to deliver anything but empty rhetoric.
If marketing was the only problem with Halifax why have containers lines left opting for ports further south? There was a time when Halifax was operating at or near capacity.
You don't have to give me a lesson in geography I live in the region. Once corporate globalization is recognized for what it really is, this idea will fade just as quickly as all the other pie in the sky development schemes that have kept the area in debt for years.
There are far more realistic options for the area that will only become reality when grandiose schemes are placed on the back burner.