DP World inaugurated the Salish Sea Gateway on 22 October, a short-sea shipping facility linking Vancouver with Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. The company put the investment at CAD$22 million and described it as British Columbia’s first facility dedicated to short-sea shipping. The project connects the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island through a corridor combining road, rail and marine transport. DP World presents it as an alternative to existing truck-and-ferry routes for moving cargo across the coastal region.

Commercial operations began earlier in 2026, before the opening ceremony. DP World says the route’s frequency increased from one sailing a week to three. Cargoes listed in the company release include forestry products, bottled water, recycled materials, machinery, equipment and retail goods. Each voyage can carry up to 200 empty containers or 140 to 160 loaded containers, depending on cargo weight. Those are per-voyage capacity figures; they are not annual throughput or a report of cargo already carried.

The facility includes a Liebherr mobile harbour crane intended to improve cargo handling and vessel turnaround. The investment also sits alongside DP World’s wider work at Duke Point terminal in Nanaimo, where berth capacity is being doubled. The company says that expansion will support annual throughput of approximately 280,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). That figure is given for Duke Point and should not be treated as the Salish Sea Gateway’s own annual volume.

DP World and port representatives expect the connection to improve supply-chain flexibility and offer an alternative to road-and-ferry routes for some freight. The company cites lower emissions, reduced congestion and more reliable transport among the intended benefits. Its announcement does not publish an independent assessment, comparative cost data or a measured reduction in vehicle traffic. Those points therefore remain stated aims and expected benefits rather than demonstrated outcomes.

The opening is an infrastructure milestone for a facility that had already entered commercial service. Future operating indicators could include whether the three weekly sailings continue, load factors and tonnage by cargo type, use of container capacity and the schedule for the Duke Point expansion. DP World’s announcement does not provide those time series or detailed public terms for operating and support arrangements. Representatives of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and Nanaimo Port Authority attended the inauguration; the release does not say that the authorities operate the facility.