FEW NEW DETAILS
CEO provides update to Sydney and Area Chamber of Commerce
Update given on port development.
Port of Sydney CEO Marlene Usher provided an update on port activity for members of the Sydney and Area Chamber of Commerce Monday that was light on new details about development around the harbour.
With about 85 people present, the event, held at the Joan Harriss Cruise Pavilion, was listed as sold out.
After her speech, Usher told reporters that she and chamber CEO Adrian White had discussed her appearing before the chamber for some time.
“I really wanted to give the business community (an update) so that they understand the rationale why we are going for a container terminal because it’s important that the business community understand it,” Usher said. “Some people question is it real.”
Usher said she understands that with the update coming in the midst of a municipal election campaign that there will be questions about the timing, which she described as being “by chance.”
“It had nothing to do with that … we started in the spring, it just ended up that it was (Monday),” Usher said. “Some people may like to make it political, but it’s not, it’s about an economic development project that would be so wonderful for our community, so I leave the politics at home.”
The port corporation has recently posted the audited financial statements for its first year of operations to its website.
The port and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality have been pursuing federal and provincial funding commitments for the construction of a proposed second cruise ship berth at the Sydney Marine Terminal, with CBRM council having set aside $6.7 million in its current capital budget to cover the municipal share of the project.
Usher told the chamber that the port has lost out on about $500,000 in potential revenues this year as a result of not having a second berth — there are cruise lines that won’t or are reluctant to come to Sydney if they have to tender passengers to shore. Having only one ship berth also hampers other potential traffic, she said, such as the docking of fuel ships, with cruise traffic given priority for docking over other ships.
“Two (vessels) were coming in for marine repairs and they wanted to stay at the wharf for a period of time,” Usher said. “One was from Muskrat Falls, they wanted to deliver cargo and then move it around. Another wanted to come in for fuelling and they couldn’t because there was cruise in.
“We needed to present that to government so that they were aware that we are losing business.”
The other two levels of government recently completed their own economic impact assessment of the second berth, Usher said, but it hasn’t yet been released.
Usher said the port started keeping track of potential lost business to assist the business case for the second berth and is keeping federal and provincial officials up-to-date on those figures.
The number of cruise ships calling at the port is down to 57 this season but the passenger count is actually up with will offset lost revenue, Usher said. There are projections for about 80 calls next year.
On the proposed Novaporte container terminal development, Usher described the port as being in a “horse race” with other potential players, including a similar proposal for Melford, Guysborough County.
A technical feasibility study of the container port proposal has been completed, she said, and is currently being looked at “to determine next steps.”
When asked whether there are expected to be any developments of note on the port file in the next three to six months, Usher said yes but again added she couldn’t be more specific.
“It gives our competition an edge, we’ve revealed things in the past and then we find it in others’ presentations, so we’re trying to be tight-lipped for a reason,” Usher said.