Flow tanker
“The way you see the natural world around you determines much about the kind of world you are willing to live with. It you are aware that whales once swam in your local waters, than you can ask yourself whether they might belong to those straits and bays one again. If you’re unaware of the animals’ past presence, than their absence will seem perfectly natural, and the question of whales in the future simply will not occur to you. “
J.B. Mackinnon from The Once and Future World: Nature as it was, as it is, an it could be
On medium and long-term expectations for growth
“We expect to see growth. Not at the rates we saw back in the 1990s to the early 2000s when we were seeing growth of six, eight, or ten per cent. We’re expecting medium-term growth of three to four per cent with GDP hopefully ending back in the two per cent and up range. So perhaps not the three times GDP growth as was in the past but closer to one and a half to two times GDP growth. Independent forecasts show continued long-term growth in container trade and we are expecting and planning to ensure we are prepared for growth. If we look at the exports, the picture is equally robust for different reasons. Assuming the global economy continues to grow, countries such as China and India are going to continue to develop their middle class and grow their cities. As part of this overseas urbanization, we would expect an increase in steel-making coal exports. In addition, as the world population continues to grow, we are expecting the strong growth in the demand for potash and grain. You have to look at each of the commodities separately, but we would say that growth fundamentals are still there.
We then look at what’s happening in the gateway and see those who know even more about commodity flows investing in our port and that reinforces our confidence. Almost whichever segment we look at, we see investors in the gateway who spend their lives and their businesses in those segments, having the same confidence about growth. I think we’re all recognizing that growth will still be there, just not at the rates we saw in this commodity supercycle over the last decade.
Robin Silvester, President and chief executive officer of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority