< ae: = 3.0 EXISTING ROUTING COMPARISON As indicated earlier, the main route system used by Cassiar Asbestos Corporation Ltd. is to truck the fibre to Whitehorse where it is loaded on the White Pass and Yukon Route railway for furtherance to Skagway. At Skagway, the fibre is reloaded on White Pass and Yukon Route's container ships for the trip to Cassiar Asbestos Corporation Ltd.‘s deep-sea loading facility in North Vancouver. Total transportation and warehousing expenses in 1976, including fibre transported to Fort Nelson and the British Columbia Railway to direct custom- ers, were close to $11.6 million. Nearly $4 million of these transportation and warehousing expenses were attributable to the Cassiar mine. The White Pass and Yukon Route system accounted for about half of the total transporta- tion expenses which includes fuel hauling. The transportation expenses of moving 80,000 tons of asbestos fibre from the Cassiar mine via the existing route to Whitehorse-Skagway-North Vancouver is about $4.4 million (1977 dollars). Rate increases on the White Pass and Yukon Route effective December 31, 1977 will likely increase the total trans- portation cost to some $4.8 million in 1978. Cost estimates have been calculated for the proposed routing. The cost of transporting 80,000 tons of fibre in specially designed container tractor- trailers over the Cassiar-Stewart Highway and tug and barge to North Vancouver is estimated to be $3.5 million in 1977 dollars. Northbound fuel transporta- tion costs for hauling 6 million gallons of fuel for the Cassiar mine are estimated at $1.8 million approximately. The asbestos fibre transportation cost savings to Cassiar Asbestos Corporation Ltd. using the proposed route are at least $.9 million per annum. Over a 25-year operating period for the Cassiar mine, transportation cost savings will total over $22.5 million in 1977 dollars. Transportation cost Savings will also be possible for northbound shipments of fuel and general freight in comparison to transportation costs of the existing route.