The company seeking to expand Metro Vancouver’s Deltaport terminal says it has applied for fast-track approval by Canada’s new major projects office.

The proposal by Global Container Terminals to add a fourth berth, expand a rail yard along the Roberts Bank causeway and undertake dredging to provide access for ships is currently under review by the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada.

But a statement from the company on Friday says it has submitted the project to the new federal office with a mandate to streamline regulatory approval and advance major projects it deems to be in the national interest.

The move comes a day after Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled a list of five projects for initial consideration by the office, including two in B.C.

The federal government has already approved a separate plan to build a new terminal at the same port complex, the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project.

B.C. Premier David Eby told a news conference on Thursday that exports from the port have been on the rise and expanding access is “crucially important.”

“We need to deliver potash from Saskatchewan out to global markets, other critical inputs for the global economy, leaving our port in Vancouver.”

The premier is set to travel to Ottawa next week to advocate for the speedy assessment of projects based in B.C.

“Look west, here’s where the prosperity for the country’s going to be,” Eby told the news conference marking the start construction for the mine life expansion project at the Highland Valley Copper mine southwest of Kamloops.

The B.C. projects already under consideration by the major projects office are LNG Canada Phase 2 in Kitimat that would double Canada’s liquefied natural gas production, and an expansion of the Red Chris Mine copper operation in the province’s northwest.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2025.

The Canadian Press