Background

Westshore Terminals has been the leading name among coal export facilities in Canada since its reclamation at Roberts Bank in Delta in 1970. Created from dredging the Strait of Georgia in one of the largest projects of its kind in Canada, the terminal has been a consistent and major foreign income earner for Canada and British Columbia ever since.

Growth over its four decades plus of operation has been planned and patterned around the increasing global demand for high-quality Canadian coal. In recent years, United States coal producers have also highly valued Westshore as the choice avenue to exports markets in Asia and Europe.

In its history Westshore has had four major upgrades leading to the latest equipment enhancement in the fall of 2012. In the past five years, Westshore has boosted its throughput from 23.5 million tonnes per year to 33 mtpy. In its first year in 1970 it shipped just under 1.5 million tonnes on board 33 ships. In 2011, the terminal handled a record 27.3 million tonnes and loaded 277 ships.