Nanaimo Port Authority will change terminal managers at both its Duke Point Deep Sea Terminal and the Nanaimo Assembly Wharf facilities effective Jan. 1.
Bernie Dumas, CEO of the port authority, said outgoing manager Western Stevedoring will be replaced with DP World Vancouver in an effort to expand and diversify Nanaimo's ports.
"DP is a bigger company and has an opportunity to help us out with different projects, including the cruise ship terminal. They do a lot of cruise facilities around the world and obviously with our new terminal that is a focus for us," said Dumas. "Western Stevedoring has been the port's agent for a long time and with the changing of some of the focuses the port is doing we felt we should be looking at other options."
Western Stevedoring is facing 14 labour code violations after the death of a 44-year-old North Vancouver worker in May 2010, but Dumas said that scrutiny didn't trigger the change in terminal manager.
"We monitor that type of thing, but no, those incidents didn't have any bearing on our decision," said Dumas. "This was more of a long-term strategy that we have in place."
Nanaimo Port Authority interviewed several terminal management companies before settling on DP World Vancouver, which operates terminals around the world and has offices in Nanaimo.
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