"It's not what you see; it's a question of what you can make other people see."
- Edgar Degas
For a while I'd intended to have a poke around the workaday industrial area you see on the right-hand side when crossing the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing.
Mostly it's the sprawling 145-acre Lynnterm facility operated by Western Stevedoring, but the Marina Side Grill below the bridge is still a secluded spot for a lovers' tryst, and the nearby Restore Habitat for Humanity outlet for recycled building materials and furnishings is worth a charitable look. Off-leash dog walkers and birders appreciate funky Harbourview Park here too. It skirts the last half-mile
or so of Lynn Creek where it meets the inlet, and the Alberta roses in fragrant bloom courtesy of nearby freight train blow-by are proof that even in industrial environments where working folks still get dirty, we can make money and ecological sense too.
On a Saturday morning I joined a dozen North Shore neighbours for one of the advertised community waterfront tours that Western Stevedoring is hosting monthly during the summer. It's fun and you get to learn how things work on the docks.
Company president Brad Eshleman has been with the outfit for 27 years and remembers when anyone could simply drive onto the docks. Post-9/11, access is restricted and security is tight. There's plenty of heavy machinery moving about, and along with large volumes of lumber and steel products, they move nearly 1½ million tons of pulp every year. Dozens of pick-up trucks whip around the facility. Stay alert.
Western Stevedoring is owned by Carrix Marine, originally out of Bellingham and now the largest stevedoring firm in the western hemisphere. Eshleman has a PowerPoint presentation that shows the range of their operations with ports from Alaska as far south as Chile. They work the Great Lakes, the eastern seaboard, Gulf of Mexico, as well as New Zealand and Vietnam. We're talking access and size.
In B.C. they employ more than 1,000 people. Some 750 are based out of North Vancouver, where the company relocated in the early 1970s. Salaries among veteran workers can average $89,000. Municipally, divided between the city and district, the company turns over $2 million in taxes, and delivers a further $3 million provincially.
Handling cargo isn't all they do. Carrix rail management services handle container rail-loading and its Tideworks Info Tech arm runs cargo and warehousing administration internationally, counting British Rail among its customers. Additionally, its Victoria cruise vessel terminal operations at Ogden Point handle logistics for 220 liners and roughly half a million passengers annually. Seattle, San Francisco and San Diego also retain their cruise vessel terminal expertise. For even non-Love Boat types like me, that's a lot of wow factor.
Getting to the point, business remains good in the longshore trade but as Eshleman confirms, things could be better. Handling forestry cargo for mill-sites and steel pipe, plates and rebar for the oil, gas and construction industries keeps Lynnterm operations chugging, but global cargo profiles have shifted. The 85-acre East Gate site at the foot of Mountain Highway where Western Canada's pulpwood forest riches are warehoused and shipped chiefly to Asia currently runs at 80-85 per cent capacity - a decent
industry rate, Eshleman says. By contrast, it's the West Gate break bulk facility across Lynn Creek that's suffering. As worldwide shipping becomes increasingly containerized, traditional "break bulk" - pallet or sling-loaded cargoes - decline. West Gate site runs at around 60 per cent capacity. Unsurprisingly, there's redevelopment planned for this rail and deep-water access location.
"More containers?" someone asks at the community session.
"One of the hot-button items - oil, gas? Coal?" There's some interest in metallurgical coal, yes, Eshleman says. A chap from West Vancouver asks about the expansion at Neptune earlier this year. More questions. Thinking about another coal depot near residential areas will do that.
Locally, the District of North Vancouver plans further urban condo growth nearby along Mountain Highway from the Seylynn Towers toward Main Street. There are traffic concerns and railway crossings to consider. Lynnterm is a 24/7 operation.
Nationally, Canada's foreign policy is now essentially economic in nature. Carrix Marine and Western Stevedoring understand that the world's economic balance has tilted toward Asia and that Canada's Pacific trade role is mainly selling commodities - grain, logs, sawn timber, cement, metal, minerals, oil and coal. Labour unions support this.
When 80 per cent of Canadians claim concern about the climate crisis, will more coal be a touchy subject?
Meanwhile, the big Deep Cove news is that "Dan's Back."
Yep, Dan Miskinan, Panorama Park's popular roustabout attendant is finally back patrolling the summer-busy beach park and keeping it shipshape. Not a minute too soon - it's spring filming season. This past week we've had the Cedar Cove gang back for another series with easygoing Andie MacDowell in the starring role.
There's never a complaint when this crew are shooting in the village.
