The Prince Rupert Port Authority (PRPA) has announced the beginning of construction on the Ridley Island Export Logistics Project (RIELP), an innovative large-scale logistics project that will provide expanded capacity and capabilities for rail-to-container transloading of multiple export products at the Port of Prince Rupert.
Total capital investment will be approximately $750 million, and is being provided by PRPA, Ray-Mont Logistics, CN, the Government of Canada, and the Government of BC. Canada’s National Transportation Corridor Fund is providing $64.8 million and the Province’s Stronger BC program is providing $25 million toward the project.
The investment promises to deliver critical trade infrastructure that will improve supply chain resiliency, strategic market access, and enhanced competitiveness for Canadian exports, the PRPA stated.
The project will consist of a 108-acre greenfield development on Ridley Island that will commence operation in Q3 2026. Ray-Mont Logistics will develop and operate facilities that provide transloading service capacity for 400,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) for agricultural, forestry, and plastic resin products. Ray-Mont currently operates a successful multi-product transload facility on a temporary Ridley Island location that has proven the export transload concept in Prince Rupert.
The project will also include an expansion of the existing Ridley Island Road Rail Utility Corridor that will facilitate unit trains 10,000 feet in length with direct access to the site from the CN network.
The transload facilities will be connected to Fairview Container Terminal by direct private road access, the 5-kilometer Fairview-Ridley Connector Corridor, ensuring all product movements will be within PRPA jurisdiction and fully avoid public infrastructure. The full electrification of transload facilities, optimization of rail, and the minimal truck drayage cumulatively represent a significant step forward in decarbonizing Canada’s export supply chains.
RIELP will provide new and innovative capacities for Canadian exporters to Asia Pacific markets. The project’s large scale, unit train capabilities, access to available empty containers, and proximity and integration into container terminal operations make it a unique model that promises the ability to deliver significant new service offerings to exporters that will greatly improve the quality, cost and reliability of container supply chains.
Local Indigenous partners will be active participants in the development and operation of RIELP. The primary contract for Ridley Island site development has been awarded to an Indigenous joint venture arrangement that includes Metlakatla First Nation, Lax Kw’alaams Band, Gitxaała Nation and IDL Projects Inc. Metlakatla and Lax Kw’alaams are also majority owners of Gat Leedm Logistics, which will be a primary service provider of truck drayage services.
(Photo from PRPA of Ridley Island)
