VANCOUVER, Jan. 17, 2013 /CNW/ - Westshore Terminals Investment
Corporation (TSX: WTE) (the "Corporation") advises today, and by way of
follow up to the December 13, 2012 press release, that good progress is
being made in the repair efforts to the damaged trestle at Berth 1,
which was damaged when a large cape size vessel, the Cape Apricot, ran
through it. Most of the clean-up work is complete and construction of a
new trestle is underway. Based on current plans, the repair work
required to bring Berth 1 back into operations is anticipated to be
complete by approximately mid-February 2013, with further work to
rebuild a permanent road way on the trestle to be completed by the end
of April. This time frame, which is ahead of prior expectations, may
still be impacted somewhat by weather and the timely delivery and
installation of the replacement trestle components. There have been no
environmental issues arising from any of the clean-up or repair
efforts.
Berth 2 has continued operations in the ordinary course throughout this
repair period and Westshore has been working with its customers and the
railroads to reduce the impact as much as possible.
Until such time as all repair work has been completed and Berth 1 is up
and running in the ordinary course, the total cost of the incident will
not be known. The Corporation has commenced efforts to pursue recovery
from the ship owner and/or its insurance carriers for its losses, but
the ultimate amount to be recovered and time do so are not known at
this time. The Corporation carries property and business interruption
insurance which, net of any deductibles that apply, is expected to
cover the remaining costs to repair the damaged trestle and related
equipment and most of the lost profits and the Corporation is working
with its insurers to progress this recovery. As the timing for recovery
of the repair costs and recoverable lost profits from the insurance
companies are unknown at this time, the Corporation will not pay
dividends based on assumed insurance recoveries. This will be assessed
once total losses are known and recovered.
The Corporation's distribution reinvestment plan (the "Plan") will be
effective for Q1 2013 distributions. Shareholders that wish to
participate should contact their broker to subscribe to the Plan. Under
the Plan, Canadian resident shareholders will be able to designate that
all or a portion of the quarterly distributions payable on their shares
be applied towards the purchase of additional shares through the
facilities of The Toronto Stock Exchange at prevailing market prices.
Participants in the Plan will not pay administrative or brokerage costs
associated with the purchase of shares under the Plan. A copy of the
Plan text will be posted on the Westshore website (www.westshore.com) next week.
Computershare Investor Services Inc. ("Computershare") has been
appointed as Plan Agent and will be responsible for the administration
of the Plan. Computershare will hold shares acquired under the Plan in
an account on behalf of Participants.
The foregoing statements concerning anticipated timing and extent of
repairs, and cost recoveries, are forward-looking statements that
reflect the current expectations of the Corporation with respect to
future events and performance. Forward-looking statements should not
be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not
necessarily be accurate indications of whether such performance or
results will be achieved.
Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the
time they are made, assumptions made by management, and management's
good faith belief with respect to future events, and will be impacted
by and are subject to the risks and uncertainties referred to above and
to other risks inherent in a project of the scale of the Berth 1
trestle repairs, as well as those outlined in the Corporation's Annual
Information Form that could cause actual performance or results to
differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking
statements, historical results or current expectations.
SOURCE: Westshore Terminals Investment Corporation
