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In 1996, BCR Marine saw an opportunity to redevelop the east
end of its Vancouver Wharves terminal to handle the expanding market
of specialty agricultural products that were being grown on Canada's
western prairie. As a part of the redevelopment project, BCR Marine
decided to raze the east end's existing structures and build a new
facility for handling friable specialty agricultural
products.
BCR Marine, Vancouver, British Columbia, operates
several dry bulk solids loading facilities at its Vancouver Wharves
deep-sea terminal, located at the Port of Vancouver entrance in
North Vancouver. Railcars transport the dry bulk products--such as
wood pulp, paper, lumber, sulfur, mineral concentrates, fertilizers,
and specialty agricultural products--to the terminal, where the
products are loaded onto ships bound for destinations in Asia, South
America, and other parts of the world.
An emerging need
Throughout the 1990s, western
Canadian farmers had found an alternative to growing the traditional
staples of
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barley, wheat, and canola, and established themselves as key
suppliers of specialty agricultural products such as food pulses
(edible seeds of various leguminous crops, including peas, lentils,
chick peas, and beans), canary seeds, alfalfa pellets, and cubes,
and others. Their success in growing these products helped develop
the Canadian pulse market, leading to increased production and
transportation needs.
BCR Marine saw the emerging Canadian pulse market
and its transportation needs as an opportunity to expand its
business by creating a bulk solids handling facility specifically
designed to handled the new products. Because the company was new to
the market, it needed a marketing advantage over its competitors.
The company decided to focus on maintaining superior product quality
while loading the product into the ship's cargo hold. For that, the
company would need a loading chute that prevented product
degradation.
Searching for an advantage
Prior to building the new
facility, BCR Marine hired CMC Engineering, Vancouver, British
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