Contractor chosen to create 320 acres of land for new Metro Vancouver superport | Daily Hive

Contractor selected to create 320 acres of land for Metro Vancouver's new superport

Preliminary artistic rendering of Roberts Bank Terminal 2. (Vancouver Fraser Port Authority)

Roughly a full year after first launching the procurement process, Vancouver Fraser Port Authority has now selected a contractor to build the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project.

The project will create a massive new additional container terminal in Tsawwassen through a significant extension of the existing port causeway.

The tip of the causeway will be extended by about 320 acres — about one-third the size of Vancouver’s Stanley Park — through land reclamation in the Strait of Georgia. This is down from the early size figures of up to 450 acres of new industrial waterfront land.

The port authority announced yesterday that it had selected a private consortium named TerraMarine to build the major landmass and wharf structure components of the megaproject. As well, the work will also include the berth pocket, widened existing causeway, expanded tug basin, and various environmental mitigation and offsetting components.

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TerraMarine includes FlatironDragados Canada, which was previously involved in building BC Hydro’s Site C hydroelectric dam, the second Port Mann Bridge, the Gordie Howe International Bridge, and the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

Another major firm in the consortium is Aecon Constructors, which is currently involved in the new replacement Pattullo Bridge and the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain projects. Other key partners include Van Oord Canada and Carlson Construction Group.

The four companies are also supported by subcontractors such as Arcadis, Stantec, TYPSA, and Tetra Tech Canada.

Existing condition:

The existing Roberts Bank terminal in Delta. (Google Earth)

The existing Roberts Bank terminal in Delta. (Google Earth)

Future condition:

Preliminary concept of Roberts Bank Terminal 2. (Vancouver Fraser Port Authority)

The port authority selected TerraMarine from a shortlist of three teams. The other consortium bid submissions were Pacific Gateway Partners (led by South Korean giants Daewoo and Hyundai and Canadian firm Bird) and KLJ Partnership (led by Kiewit, Ledcor, and Belgian firm Jan de Nul nv).

“Being selected as the preferred proponent for Roberts Bank Terminal 2 is a tremendous honour and reflects the strength of our team and partners. We look forward to collaborating closely with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, our construction partners, Indigenous Nations and other stakeholders to deliver a project that will provide lasting benefits for generations,” said Javier Sevilla, CEO of FlatironDragados.

“Roberts Bank Terminal 2 is an investment in Canada’s future, and we are proud to help bring that vision to life.”

TerraMarine was selected through a “progressive design-build procurement with a target price model,” which enables “greater flexibility in the design process, strengthens collaboration, and enhances cost and schedule certainty.”

As the next step, the port authority, TerraMarine, and regulators will work on construction logistics, costs, scheduling, early works, and subcontracting opportunities. Once this initial planning work has advanced and financial close has been reached, the port authority will sign a “target price design-build agreement” with the consortium.

This will enable early construction work and site preparation to begin in late 2027, followed by major construction and land reclamation activities starting in 2028.

Preliminary concept of Roberts Bank Terminal 2. (Vancouver Fraser Port Authority)

Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Port of Vancouver

Preliminary concept of Roberts Bank Terminal 2. (Vancouver Fraser Port Authority)

At a later date, the port authority will conduct separate bidding processes for additional contractors that will be responsible for building other components of Roberts Bank Terminal 2, including building the container terminal’s equipment and facilities and the supporting ground transportation infrastructure on the newly-created land mass.

The most recent publicly available construction cost estimate for the project is $3.5 billion. However, that figure was established several years ago, during a period of steep inflation in the market prices of construction equipment, materials, and labour. An updated cost estimate is expected after the agreement is signed.

“As we advance the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project, selecting a highly qualified construction partner is a major step forward. Canada has set a bold target to double non-U.S. exports in the next decade, and Roberts Bank Terminal 2 is critical to achieving that goal. Built by Canadians, for Canadians, the project will combine strong Canadian construction expertise with global experience, use Canadian products, and create tens of thousands of jobs,” said Peter Xotta, president and CEO of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.

“With a proven track record delivering complex infrastructure across the gateway, the port authority is well positioned to deliver this project and strengthen Canada’s export capacity.”

Growing Canada’s West Coast container capacity by 30%, and a potential new oil export terminal for Roberts Bank

Earlier this month, Roberts Bank Terminal 2 was listed as a nation-building and economic development priority under the new Canada-British Columbia Cooperative Prosperity Agreement reached between the governments of Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier David Eby.

If all goes as planned, Roberts Bank Terminal 2 is expected to begin operations in the mid-2030s.

The new superport could potentially be operated by Global Container Terminals (GCT), the same company that operates the existing GCT Deltaport container terminal on the same causeway.

This past spring, the port authority and GCT announced that they had reached a truce, setting aside their differences to potentially move forward with the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 strategy identified by the port authority.

For years, GCT fought the port authority while advancing its own proposal to expand the existing GCT Deltaport superport. The port authority opposed that concept, favouring the greater long-term capacity that will be created through the construction of the entirely new additional Roberts Bank Terminal 2 superport.

The existing causeway in Tsawwassen with the GTC Deltaport container terminal and Westshore coal export terminal. (Musco)

Existing condition of the man-made peninsula home to the GCT Deltaport container terminal and Westshore coal export terminal. (GCT)

The existing GCT Deltaport container terminal. (Vancouver Fraser Port Authority)

The existing GCT Deltaport container terminal. (Kyle Surovy)

gct deltaport container terminal port new cranes april 2025

The existing causeway in Tsawwassen with the GTC Deltaport container terminal and Westshore coal export terminal. (Musco)

Roberts Bank Terminal 2 is expected to provide an annual handling capacity of about 2.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

This will double the immediate area’s existing container terminal capacity, as GCT Deltaport can currently handle about 2.4 million TEUs annually.

The additional Port of Vancouver capacity created through Roberts Bank Terminal 2 will result in a 30 per cent increase in container capacity on Canada’s West Coast. It could unlock more than $100 billion in annual trade capacity, contribute more than $3 billion annually to the country’s GDP, and support tens of thousands of jobs, including 18,000 jobs during construction and over 17,000 jobs during annual port operations (such as harbour pilots, tug operators, longshore workers, trucking, railways, and logistics jobs).

Currently, Roberts Bank has two causeways — each roughly five-km long extending into the deep waters of the Strait of Georgia. The northern causeway supports the existing GCT Deltaport container terminal and Westshore coal expert terminal and the future Roberts Bank Terminal 2, while the southern causeway is used by BC Ferries’ Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal.

Earlier this month, the Alberta government announced its proposal to build a new oil pipeline from the Edmonton area to Metro Vancouver. Most of the route reaching the Fraser Valley would follow the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline corridor, but the remaining westernmost segment of the corridor within Metro Vancouver would reach Roberts Bank.

The Alberta government is proposing to build Roberts Bank’s third causeway — also about five km long — to support a 640-acre oil storage/tank farm facility and marine export terminal for oil tankers.

The B.C. government has agreed to work with the Alberta and federal governments on the routing, location, and other technical details of this proposed new oil pipeline and marine export terminal, with the B.C. government gaining a meaningful share of the ongoing economic and financial benefits.

The Alberta government is hoping to begin major construction work on the pipeline and marine terminal project in 2028 for a completion in 2038. Along with the port authority’s new container terminal, this potentially means there could be two separate megaprojects at Roberts Banks with overlapping construction timelines.

Roberts Bank Delivery Tank Terminal oil delta tsawwassen

Potential route options for the new Alberta-B.C. West Coast oil pipeline to reach the new Roberts Bank marine terminal, largely following the Trans Mountain corridor. (Government of Alberta)

Potential concept of the Roberts Bank Delivery Tank Terminal for the new Alberta-B.C. West Coast oil pipeline. (Government of Alberta)

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