Nanaimo British Columbia NANAIMO, BRITISH COLUMBIA THE HARBOUR CITY anaimo, British Columbia, known as The Harbour City, is a picturesque community of 90,504 along the east coast of Vancou- ver Island, Canada. The indigenous people Nof the area, the Snuneymuxw, were the first to make the area’s uneven shoreline, sheltered islands, and sandy beaches their home, subsisting on the food, fresh water, and AT A GLANCE natural abundance of its bays and forests. Vancouver Island was first explored by NANAIMO, Nanaimo Europeans when Juan de Fuca of Spain BRITISH COLUMBIA sailed north, up the continent’s western WHAT: A city of 92,000 British Columbia coast in 1592. The English, represent- ed by Captain James Cook, first arrived WHERE: On the east coast of in 1778, as the Spanish continued to Vancouver Island, Canada explore the island’s inlets, waterways, WEBSITE: www.nanaimo.ca and eastern coast. Commodore Alejan- dro Malaspina, an Italian explorer in the service of Spain, led an expedition into the sheltered bays around Nanaimo in 1791 and named them Boca de Winthuysen or Winthuysen Inlet - a name that was used until 1794, when Captain George Vancouver negotiated the final Nootka Convention that gave the British possession of the island. Nanaimo began as a trading post in the early 19th century. In 1849, the Snuneymuxw Chief, Ki-et-sa- kun (“Coal Tyee”), informed the Hudson’s Bay Compa- ny of coal in the area, and Nanaimo became a min- ing town for the next hundred years. By the 1940s, the mines were shutting down - the last one closed in 1953 - and lumber supplanted coal as the main driver of its economy; the Harmac pulp mill (origi- nally named H.A.R. MacMillan, one of the principals Ron Kirk Photography NANAIMO, BRITISH COLUMBIA pable of moving more than 500 trailers a day. adopted a strategic plan, which included an “Another recent development that’s quite investment in our waterfront. Last year, it ad- exciting is the Nanaimo Port Authority, which opted a fairly aggressive ten-year plan to see is associated with the federal government, the creation of a 15-kilometer walkway, con- and has just announced a large processing necting many parts of our community along facility for European automobiles,” reports the waterfront. Our downtown is right in the Director of Engineering & Public Works, Bill edge of our natural harbor, but we have lim- Sims. “Vancouver’s port has become very ited portions of the walkway that have been congested, and so, it’s logistically attractive to completed in the downtown. The walkway bring those automobiles into Nanaimo, pro- will connect up with the Departure Bay Ferry cess them here, and then ship them over to terminal, which is a major point for ferries the mainland.” coming in from Horseshoe Bay. So, there’ll be “Nanaimo is a harbor city, which is an asset benefits in terms of encouraging active trans- we’ve taken advantage of,” reminds Lindsay. portation, tourism, connecting communities, “When this city council first got elected, it and bringing people back to the waterfront.” of the forestry company, MacMillan Bloedel) was built east of downtown in 1950, giving the town, once again, a major industrial employer. Today, service, retail, tourism, shipping, health- We’re specifically looking at infilling in our town centers, such as our down- care, and education are its main industries. town, encouraging growth and investment. In the last few years, we’ve seen Nanaimo Regional General Hospital employs approximately 1,700. “We also have Vancouver a number of transformative projects in terms of multi-family, mid-rise invest- Island University,” says Mayor Bill McKay. “They’ve ment in our downtown and our other growth nodes. At this point, there’s no strong got a very aggressive leadership team that has push to expand our boundaries, but rather take advantage of the infrastructure been doing some wonderful things to attract new that we have available and using it in the most efficient way possible. students, including international students. They have about 12,000 full-time and 5,000 part-time DALE LINDSAY DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT students – it’s a huge economic generator.” Nanaimo, and as a result, we’ve seen some major But perhaps most important is Nanaimo’s des- investments in the last couple of years in terms of ignation as the logistics and transportation hub moving those goods.” of Vancouver Island. “We’re serviced by two ferry One of those recent investments was made by routes to Vancouver,” McKay explains, “one to the Seaspan Ferries, a North Vancouver-based parent south end and the other to West Vancouver. They of a group of companies that include shipyards, carry about five million passengers a year.” “We tugs, barges, and ship-docking services. It delivers have an active harbor,” adds Director of Communi- more than half of the island’s consumer goods, ty Development, Dale Lindsay. “A good portion of and in 2017, it opened a new, 18-acre, $44-million all the goods coming to the island come through ferry freight terminal at Nanaimo’s Duke Point, ca- NANAIMO, BRITISH COLUMBIA “We’re also hoping that the proponents of a to Vancouver the night before, to make their flight. high-speed passenger ferry service will com- Now, they don’t have to worry about that. So, our mence service this summer,” says McKay. “They’re airport, from 2009, has gone from less than 150,000 just going through the final environmental reviews passengers a year to 358,000 in 2017. And they’re in Vancouver for their terminal there – that could expecting this year, because they’ll now be having easily be a million passengers a year. And I’m hearing direct flights from Nanaimo to Toronto for a six- rumblings of some other transportation options to month period during the summer, we’re going to be Nanaimo, as well. So transportation is one of the big going over 400,000.” activities we have here.” Nanaimo is a growing community – its popula- Air travel is another transportation activity that is tion has been increasing 1.5 to 2 percent a year, becoming increasingly important in Nanaimo. “We over the past decade. “In 2017, there was over also have two airports,” McKay continues. “One’s a $200 million in construction in the community,” water-based aerodrome, where we have frequent states Lindsay. “That’s the fourth year in a row flights of seaplanes and helicopters running scheduled that we were over that $200 million mark.” And flights; those carry about 150,000 a year. In 2009, our with all the economic activity, people are moving regional airport went in an aggressive, new direction to Nanaimo from other parts of Canada. “Last year to improve reliability. They put in a new navigation there were 309 new, single family homes built system, and they’ve increased their reliability up to in the community, which is above our ten-year about 98 percent up-time, with only a two percent average of 275 per year,” Lindsay reports. “The down-time due to weather. It used to be when peo- community currently has a fairly low vacancy rate ple wanted to make a cross-country trip, they’d go – 1.6 percent. We’ve seen a number of projects Linking a History of Shipping to New Opportunity. Together, Nanaimo’s 150 year history of shipping commodi- ample, and a surprising reach this eastern facing ties to global connections prepared this Vancouver Vancouver Island port currently ships 18 different Island port for diverse opportunities in its future. products from the Island to 25 ports in 14 countries. Linking You to a World of Opportunity. Thriving for 100 years since 1852 as a coal town Ports include the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Japan, gave way to forestry for 70 years and the designa- China, North and South Korean, Thailand, Taiwan, tion of Nanaimo as one of 18 federal ports. Shipping 18 different products from Vancouver Island to 25 ports in 14 countries. Hong Kong, South and Central America, the USA Recent changes in the forestry sector broadened and Russia. When you add the imports transferred Nanaimo’s focus to a more diverse and economically from Nanaimo to Vancouver via short-sea shipping, Vancouver Island’s Logistic and Transport Hub offers the following services: flexible heading to meet with continuous global de- a mere 30 miles to the east, a vast array of oppor- mands. A skilled labour force once again embraced tunities within Canada and for many parts of North l Short-sea shipping change to build on the Port of Nanaimo’s success- America are realized. l Project cargo ful experience with two well-developed deep sea terminals. Nanaimo’s deep shipping history - served many cli- l Cruise ships ents for over 150 years – a link to a world of service l Break Bulk A port with key global partners, DP World for ex- and to new opportunity. dpworld.ca npa.ca NANAIMO, BRITISH COLUMBIA Using gravity as an advantage was in mind in mo, on gravity alone,” he posits. “So why not take 2014, when the city replaced its open reservoir advantage of that gravity-fed system if we can, on Nanaimo Lakes Road. “It had reached the end and start building a whole bank of hydro-elec- of its life and could not continue to function as a tricity producing power generating stations all result of changes in water quality regulations,” Sims along the line, over a number of years? So, we’ve notes. “So, we constructed a new enclosed reservoir, got a lot of work to do to determine the costs versus including a control building that, as we fill the res- the returns to see if we’re ready for that.