The opening of the new Port of Prince Rupert Container Terminal in northern British Colombia later this year is expected to bring about a windfall for businesses in Memphis, owing to its favourable geographic location in the central US.

The new box terminal is positioned to receive some of the Asian cargo that would previously have been shipped to the busy US west coast port of Long Beach as the Prince Rupert alternative would save freight forwarders up to 58 hours in transit times.

"The Prince Rupert project is going to open a lot of new opportunities for us," said Dexter Muller, senior vice president of community development for the Memphis Regional Chamber, quoted in The Daily News, Memphis.

"You can bypass Long Beach by going to Prince Rupert and then come down and bypass Chicago and go straight to Memphis. It opens a big opportunity for us to get a considerable amount of traffic from the west coast."

"From Memphis you can reach more of the top 100 metro markets by truck in one day's drive than any other city in the country," said Mr Muller. "That makes us a great place to bring by rail and then distribute by truck. That's why in the last 10 years, much larger warehouses are being built, not only in Memphis, but other key cities in the central US."