Atlantic Canada to See More than $4.3 Billion in Project Kickoffs in Second-Quarter 2015, Fired Up by Metals

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Top-dollar projects in the metals-processing and terminals industries are driving much of the $4.37 billion in construction spending set to kick off in Atlantic Canada in the second quarter of 2015, according to Industrial Info's Project Database. Close to 95% of the total is attributed to three industries: Metals & Minerals, Industrial Manufacturing, and Terminals.

Click on the image at right for a graph detailing planned second-quarter 2015 project kickoffs in the Atlantic Canada region by industry.

The Atlantic Canada region includes New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

The Metals & Minerals Industry is out in front with about $3.56 billion in regional projects set to kick off in the second quarter, $3 billion of which comes from a single project: Vale S.A.'s (NYSE:VALE) (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) second-phase expansion of a nickel/hydrometallurgical processing plant in Long Harbour-Mount Arlington Heights, Newfoundland & Labrador. The project involves increasing capacity at the facility, which processes nickel concentrate from the Voisey's Bay Mine in Nain, Newfoundland & Labrador, to 50,000 tons per year. The expansion is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2016.

The Industrial Manufacturing Industry is in a distant second place, with $429 million in projects expected to begin construction, including $4 million in maintenance shutdowns at two tire-manufacturing plants in Nova Scotia that are owned by Michelin Tire Corporation (Clermont-Ferrand, France). The 4,500-unit-per-day plant in Kentville and the 8,000-unit-per-day plant in New Glasgow are expected to see several planned, normal shutdowns, each ranging between 32 and 48 hours, throughout 2015.

The Terminals Industry's $126 million in expected kickoffs is dominated by a single, $100 million project: Secure Energy Services' (Calgary, Alberta) proposed construction of a rail-to-ship transloading terminal for refined products, at the Port of Belledune in New Brunswick. The planned terminal is designed to receive petroleum products by rail, store them onsite and load them onto marine vessels for international shipment. The terminal will have a capacity of 1.2 million barrels of storage in eight 150,000-barrel tanks. Roy Consultants (Bathurst, New Brunswick) is performing project-justification services, which are set to be completed in April.

Of the remaining industries, one of the largest projects can be found in the Food & Beverage Industry: Oxford Frozen Foods Limited's (Oxford, Nova Scotia) $50 million construction of a frozen fruit-processing plant in Saint Isidore, New Brunswick. The 140,000-square-foot facility will process, package and refrigerate frozen wild blueberries and similar products. The project is expected to be completed in third-quarter 2017.

More than 80% of the total investment value for projects expected to kick off in the Atlantic Canada region in the second quarter--about $3.62 billion--is attached to projects currently in the engineering stages. About $709 million worth are in the planning stages, where plenty of factors could increase, decrease or totally eliminate the expected spending, while $43 million worth already are in the early construction stages.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.