Port investment

Picton Terminals eyes government support for expansion

The Doornekamp family bets big. They saw the rusted skeleton of the longdormant docks in Picton Bay as an opportunity. Over the past couple of years, they have invested $10 million in the property, navigating regulatory waters and building a larger scale docking facility from the remnants of the deep water port.

Since September 2015, Picton Terminals has received seven ships loaded with road salt, bauxite, clinker and steel. Ben Doornekamp thinks the port has the potential to become a lot busier—serving as many as 100 ships a year.

To do this, he needs a pair of large unloaders— each costing about $5 million. He hopes the provincial and federal governments will chip in—as they have in Prescott and in ports in Quebec.

Altogether, they want to invest $40 million into the port facility over the next three years, but they need some help to do it. Ben and patriarch Henk Doornekamp came to a committee of council last week looking for support for their pitch.

The Doornekamps believe they have a compelling economic and environmental story to tell.

About 10,000 trucks travel Highway 401 each and every day—making it one of the most important, and stressed, bits of infrastructure in North America. Diverting a portion of that traffic onto ships saves money as well as wear and tear on the 401.

Doornekamp explained that each vessel coming into Port Picton displaces approximately 350,000 kilometres of heavy trucking. Shipping is about 10 times more fuel efficient than trucking bulk goods and twice as efficient as rail. That is their proposition.

Graphic rendering of expanded port faciliities, including two new large cranes, proposed for Picton Terminals.

PROOF OF CONCEPT
Kimco is the region’s largest steel supplier. Until recently, Kimco received bulk orders through ports in Hamilton or Montreal. Their most recent order of steel beams from Korea, however, came through Port Picton—delivering a significant savings in trucking costs.

Ben Doornekamp sees opportunities to repeat this success story with regional manufacturers, municipalities and agriculture markets. Further, he suggests the port facilities opening cost-efficient transportation around the globe may prove to be a catalyst for other manufacturing investment and expansion.

Most council members were eager to lend their support to Picton Terminals, particularly when it was explained they weren’t being asked to contribute dollars, just their support. Mayor Robert Quaiff explained he had been working his provincial contacts, hoping to set up a meeting with the Doornekamps.

Some councillors worried, however, about the impact of additional trucks on County Road 49. Already in rough shape in some places, they are uneasy with potentially hundreds of additional trucks plying the roadway and important tourism corridor.

Notwithstanding these reservations, Picton Terminals left with the support they were looking for.