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The volume of cargo handled at Canada's ports edged down during the first half of 2006, compared with the same period a year earlier.
The nation's ports handled just under 214.5 million metric tonnes of cargo from January to June 2006, down 0.2% compared with levels the same period a year earlier.
Shipments decreased at 10 of the country's top 20 ports, which represented 80% of total freight.
Declines in shipments of crude petroleum and potash offset increases in other manufactured and miscellaneous products goods, wheat, canola, gasoline and aviation turbine fuel.
International cargo, which accounted for 72% of the total, rose 0.5% to 153.8 million tonnes, while domestic freight declined 2.0% to 60.7 million tonnes.
Overall, the two biggest declines occurred at Come-by-Chance, Newfoundland and Labrador, the nation's second busiest port, where tonnage fell 19.0%, and the port of Saint John, New Brunswick, where it declined 12.8%. In the case of both ports, a major factor was the decrease in shipments of crude petroleum.
Vancouver, the nation's busiest port, handled just under 38.6 million tonnes of freight during the first six months of 2006, down 1.0% from the same period in 2005.
Tonnage at the Port of Montréal, including Contrecoeur, was virtually unchanged at 11.8 million tonnes.
Largely offsetting these events were gains in freight handled at Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia and Port-Cartier, Quebec.
The increase at Prince Rupert was primarily due to the resurgence of coal shipments. Between January and June, coal shipments from Prince Rupert almost tripled to 1.2 million tonnes, the highest level for the first half of the year since 2000. In addition, shipments of wheat rose 36.4% to 2.1 million tonnes.
The increase at Port-Cartier reflected a recovery in shipments of iron ore and concentrates, in the wake of the resolution of a two-month work stoppage in the iron ore mining industry in early 2005.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey numbers, including related surveys, 2751 and 2791.
Annual estimates will soon appear in the publication Shipping in Canada (54-205-XWE; free).
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Client Services (toll-free 1-866-500-8400; fax: 613-951-0009; transportationstatistics@statcan.gc.ca), Transportation Division.
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