Local dignitaries from the City and Port of Nanaimo, Snuneymuxw First Nation, and DP World at the ground-breaking ceremony for a massive expansion project at Duke Point terminal on Friday, April 4. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

increased capacity

Massive upgrades to Nanaimo’s Duke Point to result in tenfold capacity increase

Apr 4, 2025 | 4:20 PM

NANAIMO — An extensive expansion is coming to the Duke Point deep sea dock which will dramatically increase its shipping container capacity.

A centrepiece of the work will see the existing berth for container and cargo ships expand from 182 metres to 325, and result in the DP World-operated facility being able to process around 280,000 containers per year, up from the current 20,000.

Chair of the Port of Nanaimo Donna Hais said during a groundbreaking on Friday, April 4, expanding will allow them to dock larger, international vessels, significantly increasing the capacity of goods coming directly to Vancouver Island.

“We’ll be able to improve local access for food, medical supplies, construction materials, and consumer goods. We know we only have four days’ of food on Vancouver Island, imagine what this port expansion means to that statistic and to our families who live here.”

Increased capacity for warehousing and distribution will also be included.

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Hais added this port expansion will allow the Island greater resiliency against disruption in the global supply chain, which is affected by things like climate change, labour disputes, marine traffic congestion, and geopolitical changes.

“The vessels you see sitting over in Vancouver waiting to be offloaded, those can be offloaded in this port. Think about what those opportunities mean for our community, the jobs for our children and our grandchildren….taking care of the nearly million people who live on Vancouver Island.”

Joel Werner stands in front of their berth which will nearly double in length following the expansion. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Chief operating officer of DP World Joel Werner said while short-sea shipping will continue to be the core element of what they do, this expansion will allow them to broaden their focus.

“Creating additional capacity on the mainland to increase the frequency and the reliability of the short-sea shipping service, but at the same time we add additional deep-sea direct call capacity here to provide that, even more efficient access for large vessels to call directly here and exporters to load directly on to them.”

The larger berth will allow them to accept ships capable of carrying a thousand containers at a time, well beyond the limits of their current 200-metre or less vessels.

The Port of Vancouver, Canada’s largest port and the third largest in North America, handles around three million containers a year, according to Werner.

This massive diesel-powered quay crane will be replaced with two fully electric quay cranes. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Other improvements include increasing the size of their container yard, adding the ability to handle refrigerated containers, a new operations centre and truck gate, and replacing the existing diesel-powered quay crane.

Werner said Nanaimo benefits from having one of the deepest nature ports in North America, giving it an advantage over other ports that need to continually dredge their waters to maintain the depth.

The total cost for this phase of the project is $110 million, with approximately $46 million being provided by the federal government through Transport Canada’s National Trade Corridors Fund, and $15 million from the provincial government under the Regional Port Enhancement Program.

Construction is expected to start imminently, with an estimated completion time of 18-24 months.

A look at the expansion plans for the Duke Point Terminal. (DP World)

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