The president of Vancouver's port authority is launching efforts to build a new container terminal at Canada's Pacific gateway before he literally sails off into retirement.

"We can't handle all the (goods) with the terminals that we have," says Capt. Gordon Houston. "For us to do that, we need the infrastructure behind us."

Houston, who officially leaves the helm of Port Metro Vancouver (PMV) at the end of March, says negotiations are under way with A.P. Moeller-Maersk, a Dutch conglomerate that operates and manages container terminals, to determine costs of the region's fifth container-handling facility.

The terminal, likely to be placed at Roberts Bank in Delta, next to the Deltaport container and bulk-cargo facility, would be built without any government money, but taxpayer-funded infrastructure in the surrounding area could be required.

Capt. Gordon Houston

The South Fraser Perimeter Road, part of federal, provincial and municipal Pacific Gateway funding, is already being built with another terminal near Deltaport in mind, notes Houston.

But it will be up to Houston's replacement, Robin Silvester, to oversee the completion of construction of a new terminal. Silvester, 40, a former Vancouver-based president of P&O Ports Canada, has most recently been serving as the top executive for United Group Services ANZ, a property and facility management firm in Australia and New Zealand. He takes his new post March 16, but Houston does not officially leave until March 31.

"One of the things that will make it easier for Robin (Silvester) is the fact that he's been here before," says Houston. "He's known by the marine community here and had a very good reputation while he was here."

Houston, a former bulk-cargo ship sailor, has also developed a good reputation since taking command of what is now known as PMV, a non-shareholder corporation governed under the Canada Marine Act, in 2001.

He has overseen steady revenue growth, port expansion, huge increases in container traffic and the amalgamation of three local port authorities into one. He has also contended with trucker and railway strikes, battles for more government funding for roads and railways, environmental issues, traffic congestion around Metro Vancouver that has slowed shipments to the rest of Canada and, now, the recession.

Allen Wright, executive-director of the Calgary-based Coal Association of Canada, who also sits on a committee comprised of user group representatives that nominate the authority's board members, says Houston has made "a solid effort to make the port better."

"On balance, things have improved a lot in the last little while," says Wright. "I'm not saying there aren't issues dealing with the port, but my relationship with him has always been very positive. " Wright says Silvester will face many challenges, ranging from environmental matters to facilities funding.

"There are challenges for the port, particularly on the funding side of things, trying to compete to run this thing, because it's not just the coal guys going through there - it's everything going through there," says Wright. "It's really difficult to compete with (coal shippers) and some of the others because they can go and raise money, which is really difficult for the port (authority) to do to expand."

But Houston insists the former Crown corporation has the financial wherewithal to fund expansions with private partners. In other words, government funding for the port itself is not necessary. "We're financially very successful here at the port," says Houston. "That's why we are arranging a business agreement (on the proposed new container terminal). There's a myth that everything that happens at the port is built with government money. That just doesn't happen."

But PMV's financial strength will be tested in the next year or two as Canada's economy muddles through a global recession. In January, Vancouver's port traffic declined 10 percent from the same month last year. Overall container shipments fell 2.7 percent, says Houston.

He attributes the decline in part to protracted negotiations - "a non-strike" - between a longshoremen's foremen union and their employer group, which raised fears and prompted shippers to re-route their goods. Also, Chinese New Year - and its related shipping rush - came early this year.

Jayson Myers, president and CEO of the Ottawa-based Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) association, says it's time to look beyond the recession and prepare for future port expansion. At least one group has estimated Vancouver's port traffic could increase by as much as two-thirds in coming years.

"Business has fallen off pretty dramatically, but I think we've got to keep our eye on the longer-term view, which is to put in the infrastructure that's going to handle the higher volumes once global trade comes back," says Myers.

Canada must also keep pace with U.S. port authorities and other governing bodies along the U.S. West Coast that are plotting strategic investments in infrastructure and facilities. Houston says PMV has prospered by focusing on the Canadian market. "We have deliberately not gone after the United States market," says Houston.

That strategy has proved to be a huge advantage, he adds, because Canadian markets protect Vancouver's port from dealing with physical problems - namely road and rail traffic congestion - in the U.S. and its financial troubles.

"(Canada is) pretty much attached at the hip with the U.S.," says Houston. "If they get a cold, we sneeze. It's that simple. But I very much doubt that the recession - and, hopefully, not depression, but certainly recession - will be as severe here as it will be in the United States."

The economic downturn actually marks a great time for the port authority to examine some of the projects that it wants to build, he adds, because "the supply of the companies and labour is there" and the port authority has the financial means. But the expansion will have to occur on his successor's watch.

Houston says Silvester must "put his stamp" on a sustainability framework that is now underway and develop closer links between PMV's 40-year plan and Metro Vancouver's land-use planning.

Houston considers his legacy to be the amalgamation of the three port authorities into one, but adds the union, discussed for many decades, was an "accident in time."

Still, it culminated the tasks Houston, 61, set for himself while serving as a PMV vice-president before becoming president and CEO in 2001.

As for what he'll do in the future, he only has one simple plan.

"Go sailing and just think."

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)