The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority has selected TerraMarine, a consortium led by FlatironDragados Canada, Van Oord Canada, Aecon Constructors and Carlson Construction Group, as the preferred developer for the major marine construction package at its Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion.
The July 13 selection advances one of North America’s largest planned port projects to the collaborative development phase of a progressive design-build procurement.
Planned for Roberts Bank in Delta, British Columbia, the new marine container terminal is designed to expand container capacity at Canada’s largest port by more than 30% by constructing a three-berth facility on approximately 320 acres of reclaimed waterfront land. Roberts Bank is already home to GCT Deltaport and Westshore Terminals bulk export facility.
The port authority says the project will unlock more than $100 billion in annual trade capacity and contribute more than $3 billion annually to Canada’s gross domestic product, with start of operations in the mid-2030s.
Marine Construction Pack
The scope of the contract includes the construction of the project’s marine land mass, dock structure and berth pocket, widened roadway, widened tug basin and selected environmental mitigation and compensation works.
Supporting the construction team was the designer Arcadis Professional Services Canada, with Stantec Consulting, TYPSA and Tetra Tech Canada as sub-consultants.
The port authority says it selected a progressive design and target price model to provide greater design flexibility while strengthening collaboration and improving cost and schedule certainty.
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TerraMarine will work with the port authority, regulators and First Nations to advance logistics, work planning, schedule, costs, first works and outsourcing opportunities, including Indigenous-owned companies. Once work is sufficiently advanced and after financial close, the Port Authority intends to award a target-price design-build agreement.
An annotated project rendering identifies the main components of the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion, including the new container terminal, widened roadway and extended tug basin that make up the marine infrastructure package awarded to the TerraMarine consortium.
Image courtesy of Vancouver Fraser Port Authority
The selection concludes a one-year contract that began last July. Financial closure, mobilization and first works are planned for late 2027, followed by land reclamation from 2028.
“As we move forward with the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project, selecting a highly qualified construction partner is a great step forward,” said Peter Xotta, President and CEO of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.
“[T]The project will combine strong Canadian construction expertise with global expertise, use Canadian products and create tens of thousands of jobs,” he added.
Aecon, which has a 30% stake in the consortium, said the project is expected to enter into an initial design and works agreement in the third quarter, with execution of the full design and construction agreement expected in the first quarter of 2028 following the completion of the collaborative development phase.
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“We are proud to bring our extensive civil and marine construction capabilities to support the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project, expanding our portfolio of port infrastructure expertise, which includes the Port of Montreal Expansion Project in Quebec and the Kingstown Port Modernization Project delivered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,” said Thomas Clochard, Aecon’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
At the port authority’s annual meeting in June, Xotta said industry response to the procurement had been strong and the agency was on schedule to name a preferred contractor this summer.
Beyond construction procurement, the project has secured federal and provincial environmental approvals and mutual benefit agreements with 27 First Nations. The port authority has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Global Container Terminals to explore a joint operation and development agreement for the future terminal.
Roberts Bank Terminal 2 is one of several ongoing capacity projects at the Port of Vancouver, which handled a record 170.4 million metric tons of cargo by 2025, including nearly 3.8 million TEUs of container traffic.
The Port of Vancouver connects Canada with more than 170 countries and handles approximately 40% of the country’s overseas merchandise trade by value.
