Operations at DP World’s Fairview Container Terminal were temporarily shut down on Thursday night while a suspicious odour was investigated.
Kris Schumacher, communications coordinator with the Port of Prince Rupert, confirmed that a propane-like odour was detected at the south end of the terminal during the night shift.
He said the evening shift’s lunch was called early to clear the terminal and allow an investigation to find what the source of the odour was.
“It was unlike a smell that would be coming from any type of dangerous goods that were on the terminal at that time,” he said.
Following the initial investigation, the Prince Rupert Fire Department was called to further investigate the odour, but found nothing.
“We went and checked, did our tests and found nothing,” said Prince Rupert fire chief Dave McKenzie.
“They confirmed that they were smelling the same smell that had been detected earlier but couldn’t determine the source of it,” said Schumacher. “They determined that it wasn’t anything to do with any dangerous goods that were being transported.”
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Work resumed on the terminal after the investigation was finished and the night crew’s lunch break was over.
On Friday, a third-party monitoring team was brought to the port from Vancouver to further investigate the odour. They took a number of readings. It was later determined that the source of the smell was from some empty containers at the terminal. Schumacher said the history of the containers will be investigated in the coming week to determine why they had an odour.
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