British Columbia

• British Columbia, Canada's third largest province, comprises 9.5% of the country's total land area and is home to over 3.7 million people-12.8% of Canada's population... The province's population grew 13.5 % between 1991 and 1996, a rate more than twice the national average...
• In 1995, B.C.'s international exports totaled $26.9 billion-an increase of $4.1 billion from 1994. The U.S. received 49%, Japan 25%, the European Union 11% and another 11.5% went to Pacific Rim countries other than Japan...
• During 1995, almost $6.8 billion was spent by 27 million overnight visitors traveling in British Columbia. Of that amount, $3.4 billion was spent by B.C. residents traveling in B.C., $1.5 billion by other Canadians, $1.1 billion by U.S. residents and $800 million by overseas visitors...
• In 1995, the majority of B.C.'s international tourism markets grew in volume, with the U.S. market up 7.2%, the U.K. up 9.6%, Germany up 14.5% and Japan up 27.6%...

Air

• In 1996, there were 1,538,803 aircraft movements in B.C., compared with 6,060,570 for all of Canada. That's 25.3% of the nation's total...
• In 1995, 13,830,442 passengers either enplaned or deplaned in B.C. airports, compared with 65,754,611 for all of Canada. That's 21% of the nation's total...
• There are 5,935 registered aircraft in B.C., compared with 27,998 for all of Canada. That's 21.2% of the Canadian total...
• B.C. has 236 airports. There are 108 water aerodromes in British Columbia...
• Over 14 million passengers traveled through the Vancouver International Airport (YVR) in 1996-an annual increase of 16.9%. By the year 2005 that figure is forecast to climb to over 17 million passengers...
• In 1995, Vancouver was only linked to seven U.S. cities-in 1996, thanks to "Open Skies," the Canada-U.S. air bilateral agreement, YVR had flights to 22 U.S. urban centres...
• YVR generates direct employment for about 17,000 people-by comparison, the B.C. mining industry employs roughly 11,000. Overall, YVR generates about 39,000 jobs in B.C., including direct and indirect employment...
• Each 747 flight generates the equivalent of about a full year of employment for one person and every time a 747 takes off from YVR, it leaves behind over $75,000...
• YVR's new runway increases capacity from 300,000 to 425,000 aircraft movements per year...
• Helijet Airways provides the only commuter service of its kind in North America, with five Sikorsky S-76s in scheduled service from Vancouver to Victoria, and introducing service to Seattle in May...

Marine

• The Port of Vancouver handled a record 72 million tonnes of cargo in 1996...
• Vancouver is the second largest port in North America in terms of foreign trade and is Canada's largest port. In 1996, the container volumes totaled 616,700 TEUs...
• Foreign exports make up 88% of the Port of Vancouver's total tonnage, with Asia Pacific-destined exports representing 67% of the total...
• Vancouver ports directly generate 10,700 full-time equivalent jobs... and the GDP generated by the Port adds $1.68 billion to the Canadian economy...
• Fraser Port handled 24,548,537 tonnes of cargo in 1996, up 6.5% from the year before...
• In 1996, shipments from the Prince Rupert Port decreased to 10.1 million tonnes, down from 11.5 million tonnes in 1995-this was mostly due to a decrease in grain shipments...
• The cruise ship industry registered its 14th consecutive year of growth in 1996 and now pumps about $180 million into the local economy yearly in direct investments...
• Vancouver welcomed over 700,000 cruise ship passengers in 1996-an 18% increase from 1995...
• B.C. Ferries, Canada's largest ferry operator, has 40 vessels on 24 routes serving the B.C. coast, and carried 22.5 million passengers in 1996...
• B.C. Ferries employs approximately 3,000 people in British Columbia...
• About 60% of Canada's tugboats work in British Columbia...

Surface

Rail

• B.C.'s rail system includes roughly 6,800 kilometres of mainland railroad track...
• Rail services are provided by CN Rail, CP Rail, BC Rail, Burlington Northern, the Southern Railway of B.C., Amtrak and Rocky Mountaineer Railtours...
• Ridership on the Seattle-Vancouver Amtrak service was approximately 85,500 passengers in 1996...
• Rocky Mountaineer Railtours carried 43,000 passengers in 1996, an increase of 43% from the previous year-the company is doubling its capacity this summer, with 63,000 passengers projected for 1997...
• About 33% of crude materials unloaded in Canada are unloaded in British Columbia. The proportion of unloadings in B.C. increased marginally from 1994 to 1995 despite a 2% decline in total Canadian unloadings...
• In 1995, 1,917 unit trains unloaded over 20 million tonnes of coal through Roberts Bank's Westshore Terminals, the largest bulk loading terminal on the North American West Coast...

Roads

• British Columbia has approximately 23,300 paved and 19,300 unpaved kilometres of highway, and 2,720 bridges...
• In 1995 there were 1.56 million passenger vehicles licensed in B.C. and 543,000 commercial vehicles-a slight increase over the previous year...
• There is the equivalent of one new motor vehicle every 20 minutes in the Greater Vancouver Regional District-a growth rate of 28,000 new vehicles per year...
• There are about 85,000 large trucks operating in British Columbia...

Transport Trends is published by Transport Canada's Pacific Region to keep our clients and stakeholders up-to-date on transportation activities and trends in British Columbia. Questions or suggestions please phone (604) 666-1675, fax (604) 666-7255.

TP 12780E