Kempower Chargers Go Live at One Vancouver Port, Not the Other

GCT switched on 21 Kempower chargers at its Vancouver container terminal in September, delivering 2.05 megawatts to battery-electric equipment already moving containers. A separate, larger deal Kempower signed with DP World on Sept. 2 covers five Canadian ports but has yet to install a single charger.

The two announcements were bundled together in Kempower's own coverage this week, but they describe different stages of the same bet: that Canadian ports are ready to electrify the tractors, cranes and yard trucks that move containers on the ground. GCT is Canada's largest container terminal operator and describes itself as majority Canadian-owned; DP World is the multinational operator with terminals in Vancouver, Fraser Surrey, Nanaimo and Prince Rupert in British Columbia and Saint John in New Brunswick, plus a sixth terminal under construction at Contrecoeur, near Montreal, that is not expected to open before 2030.

What's already running at GCT

Kyron Harvett, GCT's manager of operations technology, said the Kempower system "enables opportunity charging during shift changes and breaks, maximizing equipment availability while minimizing operational disruption." The terminal ran a multi-day trial with a battery-electric terminal tractor and reported near-total uptime, according to Electrek's coverage of the rollout. GCT's 21 satellite chargers carry two plugs each, for 42 charging ports in total, at a combined 2.05 megawatts.

What DP World has only signed

DP World's deal is bigger on paper: 46 satellite chargers and 4.4 megawatts of combined power in its first phase alone, split across the Vancouver, Fraser Surrey and Prince Rupert terminals, with Nanaimo, Saint John and the future Contrecoeur site to follow later. But the agreement carries no binding order volumes, according to Kempower; DP World places individual equipment orders against the framework as its own investment plans allow. Doug Smith, DP World's chief executive in Canada, said the deal "gives us a scalable, reliable charging platform that supports operations today while creating flexibility to electrify more equipment over time." Monil Malhotra, Kempower's North America president, said "ports are an essential part of the global supply chain, and reliable charging infrastructure plays an important role in port electrification."

Port charging deal	Chargers	Power	Status
GCT, Vancouver	21 (42 ports)	2.05 MW	Installed, in use
DP World, Phase 1	46	4.4 MW	Signed, not yet installed

The number that matters is megawatts, not chargers

DP World's Phase 1 promises more than double GCT's installed power, at 4.4 megawatts against 2.05. What that comparison leaves out is which terminal's yard equipment actually needs the electricity today. GCT's own trial ran a single terminal tractor; Waymo's robotaxi fleet has already shown that grid capacity, not vehicle count, is what actually caps an electrification rollout, and a port terminal pulling megawatts through shift changes runs into the same constraint a robotaxi depot does. Chargers can be bolted down inside months; the substation upgrade behind them cannot.

Kempower previously supplied a similar deal for DP World's London Gateway hub in the UK, in 2024, the kind of prior relationship that likely helped this framework move from signature to Phase 1 planning as fast as it did. Whether DP World's five Canadian terminals reach GCT's stage of a real equipment trial, or stay a framework agreement through next year, is the detail Kempower did not put a date on. Tesla's own Semi program has learned the same lesson selling trucks: a signed order and an operating charger are two different milestones, and only one of them moves freight.