Canada's ports and marine terminals handled more total cargo in 2002 compared to 2001 as economic activity picked up across the country. Real gross domestic product increased 3.3% in 2002 as firms re-invested in inventories following their reductions in 2001 when sales were slow. International trade in merchandise with the United States declined 0.8% in 2002 to $601.9 billion on a balance of payments basis, following an initial 3.0% drop in 2001. However, merchandise trade with the rest of the world grew by 2.3% to $168.8 billion on increased demand for both Canadian exports and foreign imports.  ¹

The total tonnage of cargo handled by Canadian ports and marine terminals in 2002 increased 3.4% from 2001 to 407.9 million tonnes (Mt.). International cargo (between Canadian and foreign ports) declined 1.4% from 286.9 Mt. in 2001 to 282.7 Mt. in 2002. The declines in international shipping experienced in 2001 and 2002 marked the first consecutive year drop in over 10 years. Domestic cargo (between two Canadian ports) increased 16.1% from 107.8 Mt. to 125.2 Mt. The increased production of the Newfoundland offshore oil fields in 2002 drove the increase in the domestic shipping sector. Note that domestic cargo is handled twice by the Canadian port and terminal system, once when loaded and again when unloaded.

Chart 1
Total cargo handled at Canadian ports and marine terminals

Chart 2
International cargo handled at Canadian ports and marine terminals

Chart 3
Domestic cargo handled at Canadian ports and marine terminals

International marine cargo

In 2002, Canadian ports and marine terminals loaded 174.3 Mt. of cargo destined for foreign countries, including the United States. This was virtually unchanged from the 174.7 Mt. loaded in 2001. Increased shipments of crude petroleum, iron ores and concentrates and gasoline and aviation turbine fuel offset decreased shipments of wheat, coal and colza seeds (canola) to maintain this level. Over 108.5 Mt. of cargo originating in foreign countries, including the United States was unloaded at Canadian ports and marine terminals in 2002, 3.7 Mt. (3.3%) less than in 2001. Lower inbound shipments of crude petroleum, coal and fuel oils accounted for most of the decrease.

Canada - United States cargo

Canada’s marine traffic to and from the United States increased 5.9% from 108.0 Mt. in 2001 to 114.3 Mt. in 2002. This was driven by cargo shipped to the United States which rose 17.5% to 72.9 Mt. as cargo arriving from the United States dropped 9.7% to 41.4 Mt.

The growth in United States bound cargo was driven by shipments of crude petroleum which jumped 38.6% from 11.0 Mt. to 15.2 Mt. This was a reflection of the increased production of the Newfoundland offshore oil fields as the Terra Nova site came on-stream in 2002. Most of the other major bulk commodities shipped to the United States in 2002 also showed strong increases with gasoline and aviation turbine fuel up 23.5% (to 9.5 Mt.), iron ores and concentrates up 31.1% (to 6.6 Mt.), other non-metallic minerals up 19.0% (to 7.4 Mt.) and limestone up 42.0% (to 2.2 Mt.) to name a few. Salt shipments destined to United States Great Lakes ports was the only major commodity showing decreased activity, down 19.5% to 3.5 Mt. in 2002.

Coal shipments accounted for over 45% of all inbound shipments from the United States in 2002. These declined 14.3% in 2002 to 19.0 Mt. following a 10.1% increase a year earlier. Nanticoke, Courtright, and Port Credit were the main ports affected by this drop. Fuel oil from the United States Atlantic and Gulf ports dropped 16.3% in 2002 and totalled 2.2 Mt. The ports of Montréal/Contrecoeur, Saint John and Halifax were most affected by this. Several commodities inbound from the United States experienced strong increased demand, notably iron ores and concentrates, up 19.4% to 5.4 Mt.; limestone, up 11.7% to 2.7 Mt. and other basic chemicals up 15.4% to 1.9 Mt.

Ships registered in Canada handled 44.1% of the Canada – United States cargo in 2002, down from 50.3% in 2001. Canadian-flag ships were especially dominant on the Great lakes with 89.2% of the cargo exchanged with United States’ Great Lakes ports. United States-flag ships carried 9.0% of all Canada – United States cargo, down from 9.9% in 2001. Foreign-flag ships carried the remaining 46.9% of Canada – Unites States cargo in 2002.

Canada – Overseas cargo

In 2002, Canada’s marine traffic to and from overseas ports fell to 168.4 Mt., down 5.9% from 2001. Cargo shipped to overseas ports decreased 10.0% to 101.4 Mt. while cargo arriving from overseas ports increased 1.2% to 67.0 Mt.

Shipments of coal to overseas ports declined by 13.8% (3.9 Mt.) in 2002 to 24.0 Mt. compared to 2001. Over 93% of Canada’s coal was shipped from Vancouver, with Asia and Europe receiving 63% and 20% respectively. Canadian grain shipments to overseas ports were also down in 2002 following a severe drought in western Canada. Wheat shipments were down 32.1% to 10.4 Mt. and colza seeds (canola) were down 44.3% to 2.1 Mt. One bright note was that iron ores and concentrates shipments grew by 5.6% to 18.6 Mt. with increased cargoes heading to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Iron and steel – primary or semi-finished and gasoline and aviation turbine fuel were the two main commodities that contributed to the 2.2% increase in cargo arriving from overseas ports. Iron and steel – primary and semi-finished rose 63.6% to 3.4 Mt. in 2002. Hamilton, Oshawa and Windsor were the main recipients of increased shipments of iron and steel – primary and semi-finished goods from Europe and South America. The quantity of gasoline and aviation turbine fuels from overseas ports increased 32.6% from 2001 to 3.7 Mt. with shipments mainly originating in Europe. Shipments of crude petroleum and fuel oils from overseas ports both declined in 2002; crude petroleum down 10.1% to 28.3 Mt. and fuel oils down 54.4% to 0.9 Mt.

Canadian-flag ships handled just 0.1% of the cargo exchanged with overseas ports in 2002, about the same share as in 2001. The top three flags handling overseas cargo were Panama (24.6%), Greece (9.2%) and Liberia (9.0%).

Domestic cargo

The 125.2 Mt. of domestic freight handled by ports in 2002 was the highest quantity recorded over the last decade and represented a 16.0% increase over the 2001 activity. Newfoundland’s offshore oil fields were the driving force behind the change as the Terra Nova wells came on-stream in January 2002, and, with Hibernia, resulted in an almost doubling of the production of the previous year. Canadian ports handled 30.7 Mt. of crude petroleum shipments in 2002 compared to 11.1 Mt. in 2001. While most of the activity centered on movements between the Newfoundland Offshore and Come-by Chance, Saint John also benefited with a 1.6 Mt. gain in domestic crude petroleum handled, an increase from 0.4 Mt. in 2001 to 2.0 Mt. in 2002.

In the Pacific Region, domestic cargo increased 3.6% in 2002 over 2001 on the strength of 14.7 Mt. (up 9.5%) of wood chips and 8.2 Mt. (up 7.3%) of logs and other wood in the rough handled by British Columbia ports. These two commodities account for close to 73% of the 31.6 Mt. of domestic cargo handled in the Pacific Region. The ports of North Arm Fraser River, Howe Sound and the East Coast Vancouver Island had increased traffic in 2002 as a result of this strong growth. Ports in the Great Lakes region handled 28.9 Mt. of domestic cargo in 2002, 1.2 Mt. lower than in 2001, due mainly to lower traffic in wheat, iron ores and concentrates and fuel oils. Ports in the St. Lawrence region handled 23.8 Mt. in 2002, or 4.0% less than the previous year. They also experienced a drop in wheat and fuel oils as well as lower shipments of other metallic ores and concentrates. Domestic cargo handled in the Atlantic region showed a dramatic increase (81.9%) from 22.5 Mt. in 2001 to 40.9 Mt. in 2002 due to the increased production of the Newfoundland Offshore oil fields.

Canadian port traffic

Nineteen Canadian Port Authorities ² (CPAs) were created under the Canada Marine Act of 1998 based on their potential to be financially self-sufficient. The 19 CPAs handled 58.9% of the total international and 39.1% of the total domestic cargo handled by Canadian ports and marine terminals in 2002 ³.

Vancouver handled 63.2 Mt. of marine cargo in 2002, a decline of 12.3% from 2001 and continued to be the leading Canadian port for both bulk cargo and containerized freight handling 15.6% of Canada’s marine cargo in 2002. Coal shipments were down 14.2% in 2002 with the port handling 22.7 Mt. compared to 26.5 Mt. a year earlier. Also, grain shipments tumbled with wheat down 54.9% (to 3.3Mt.), colza seeds (canola) down 55.6% (to 1.9 Mt.) and barley down 80.2% (to 0.2 Mt.). The poor harvests of Canadian farmers due to droughts, insects and heavy rains late in the season were the major conditions affecting the shipment of these commodities. Potash and wood pulp shipments grew by 22.5% and 15.0% reaching 3.9 Mt. and 3.8 Mt. respectively due to increased demand from Asia.

The number of international containers handled at Vancouver increased 27.2% and reached 1.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2002. Vancouver handled 47.8% of the containers handled at Canada’s ports. Almost 90% of these containers were laden with cargo weighing a total 11.3 Mt., an 11.7% increase over 2001. The tonnage of containerized cargo received from foreign ports increased 29.2% to 4.6 Mt. on the strength of increased demand for manufactured and miscellaneous goods, machinery and transportation equipment and primary and fabricated metal products. These came mainly from Asia and 2002 marked the first time that the number of loaded inward containers (685,845 TEUs) exceeded the number of loaded outward containers (595,715 TEUs) at Vancouver. Tonnage of outbound containerized freight rose 2.2% to 6.9 Mt. with increased shipments of forest and wood products, manufactured and miscellaneous goods and pulp and paper products destined for Asia offsetting lower shipments of agriculture and food products to account for the slight increase in 2002.

Sept-Îles (including Pointe-Noire) handled 20.0 Mt. in 2002, virtually unchanged from 2001. International cargo handled by the port increased 4.5% from 2001, reaching 16.1 Mt. in 2002. This increase was due mainly to higher shipments of iron ores and concentrates to the United States (up 20.3% to 5.2 Mt.). Domestic cargo handled at Sept-Îles/Pointe-Noire declined 12.1% to 4.0 Mt. due mainly to a 21.7% drop in iron ores and concentrates shipments to Hamilton.

Montréal (including Contrecoeur) handled 18.3 Mt. of cargo in 2002, down 2.9% from 2001 due mainly to fewer shipments of fuel oils, wheat and fertilizers (excluding potash) handled at the port. The number of international containers handled by the port increased 6.6% in 2002, to 979,840 TEUs, with almost 93% of the containers loaded with cargo. The weight of the cargo in those containers rose 8.4% and totalled 9.1 Mt. The top three commodities carried in containers were other manufactured and miscellaneous goods, other basic chemicals and machinery.

The total tonnage handled by the port of Saint John, New Brunswick, increased 3.2% to 25.2 Mt. in 2002. Inbound shipments of fuel oils from the United States Atlantic and Gulf region and the Central America and Antilles region were both down 42.0% creating an overall drop of 14.8% to 5.1 Mt. of fuel oils handled at Saint John. This was offset by strong growth in other bulk commodities handled at the port resulting in the overall gain in 2002 – crude petroleum up10.2% to 11.9 Mt.; gasoline and aviation turbine fuels up 9.0% to 5.3 Mt.; and potash up 4.0% to 0.8 Mt.

The total cargo handled by the port of Québec (including Lévis) increased 17.7% from 2001 to 17.9 Mt. in 2002. International cargo which accounted for 80.5% of the total cargo, increased 20.7%, up to 14.4 Mt. Increased inbound shipments of crude petroleum from Africa and Europe accounted for most of the gain followed by increased tonnage of iron ores and concentrates arriving from Brazil and transhipped through Québec to the United States Great Lakes. The port handled 3.5 Mt. of domestic cargo in 2002, up 6.8% over 2001 due mainly to increased handling of fuel oils, gasoline and turbine fuels and wheat at the port.

The total tonnage handled at the port of Halifax decreased 7.6% over 2001 down to 12.9 Mt. in 2002. International cargo which accounted for 81.5% of the total cargo was down 6.7% in 2002 due to lower receipts of crude petroleum from Europe (down 5.8%) and South America (down 30.4%). Loadings of other non-metallic minerals destined for the United States Atlantic and Gulf region increased 10.4% and totalled 2.9 Mt. Over 31% of the cargo handled at Halifax was in containers. Halifax handled 486,389 TEUs of containerized cargo totalling 4.1 Mt. in 2002 compared to 501,456 TEUs and 4.2 Mt. in 2001.

Hamilton handled 11.7 Mt. of marine cargo in 2002, up 10.4% from 2001. By sector, international traffic handled increased 33.0% to 5.8 Mt. This increase was due to increased inbound shipments of iron ores and concentrates (423.6% to 1.4 Mt.) from the United States Great Lakes region, and inbound iron and steel – primary and semi-finished (up 73.2% to 1.1 Mt.), mainly from South America and Europe. Inbound coal shipments from the United States were down 7.9% to 2.1 Mt. In the domestic sector, traffic was down 5.3% to 5.9 Mt. as inbound shipments of iron ores and concentrates decreased 11.5% to 4.5 Mt. in 2002 compared to 5.1 Mt. in 2001.

Fraser River Port handled 12.5 Mt. of marine cargo in 2002, an increase of 9.3% over 2001. Domestic cargo accounted for 7.9 Mt. or 62.7% of the total tonnage handled by the port. The amount of domestic tonnage handled remained virtually unchanged in 2002 as increases in shipments of wood chips, newsprint and stone, sand, gravel and crushed stone offset declines in shipments of limestone and logs and other wood in the rough. The port handled a record 4.7 Mt. of international cargo, up 31.1% over the previous record year of 2001. Cargoes of logs and other wood in the rough, cement, vehicles and parts and accessories and containerized freight showed strong gains in 2002. Fraser River Port continued to be the fourth largest container port in Canada in 2002 and handled 851.1 kilotonnes (up 78.5%) and 94,798 TEUs (up 94.8%) of international containerized freight.

The Thunder Bay port authority felt the impact of the poor wheat harvest in western Canada as their total tonnage handled in 2002 dropped 9.4% to 8.2 Mt. Declines in domestic wheat shipments destined for Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region ports for transhipment overseas where down 14.6% in 2002 to 3.4 Mt. International movements of wheat helped to offset this decline with a 40.0% increase as 1.1 Mt. of wheat were shipped to foreign ports in Europe, Africa, South America and Central America and Antilles. Both domestic and international coal shipments increased resulting in 3.9% more tonnage loaded in 2002 (to 1.6 Mt.) compared to 2001.

The total cargo handled at Prince Rupert declined 6.7% from 4.7 Mt. in 2001 to 4.4 Mt. in 2002. International shipments of coal (down 12.6% to 1.4 Mt.) and wheat (down 4.9% to 1.9 Mt.) were behind this drop reflecting the weak demand for coal from Asia and the severity of the drought conditions in Western Canada affecting the wheat harvests. A boast in colza seed (canola) shipments to Asia and Central America and Antilles help to offset some of the lost activity as these shipments increased from 75 kilotonnes in 2001 to 363 kilotonnes in 2002.

The port of Windsor (Ontario) handled 4.6 Mt. of marine cargo in 2002, down 2.3% from 2001 marking the fourth consecutive year of reduced traffic. Domestic cargo showed a healthy 6.8% gain on the strength of a 68.9% increase in salt shipments handled. In 2002, Windsor handled 0.9 Mt. compared to 0.5 Mt. in 2001 as salt became the top commodity in their domestic sector. This was offset by a drop of 28.5% in domestic stone, sand, gravel and crushed stone handled, down to 0.7 Mt. International tonnage fell 9.5% in 2002 down to 2.4 Mt. as a result of fewer salt shipments to the United States Great Lakes region. This was partially offset by a 30.5% increase in limestone from the same region, up to 1.1 Mt. in 2002 from 0.8 Mt. in 2001.

The total tonnage reported for the North Fraser River port increased 11.3% over 2001 to 4.7 Mt. in 2002. The three main commodities handled at the port were logs and other wood in the rough (2.6 Mt.), wood chips (1.7 Mt.), and stone, sand, gravel and crushed stone (683 kilotonnes). The North Fraser River is the major port for tug and barge and log boom traffic on the Pacific coast. Some of this traffic is loaded and unloaded within the port while some of it is transported through the port to other points on the Fraser River. There are significant differences between the statistics reported by the North Fraser Port Authority and this publication ⁴. 

The port of Trois-Rivières handled 2.4 Mt. of marine cargo in 2002, virtually unchanged from 2001. Domestic cargo, which accounted for 23% of the total rose 4.3% from 543 kilotonnes to 566 kilotonnes. International shipments fell slightly by 0.8% in 2002 to 1.9 Mt. The top three commodities handled at the port in 2002 where alumina (452 kilotonnes), wheat (393 kilotonnes) and other non-metallic minerals (335 kilotonnes).

A total of 2.3 Mt. of marine cargo were handled by the port of Nanaimo in 2002, up 7.3% from 2001. Domestic tonnage handled totalled 1.2 Mt., down 2.8% from 2001. Fewer shipments of wood chips (down 7.9% to 0.9 Mt.) at the port were responsible for the decline. International cargo handled showed a strong growth of 19.3% to 1.2 Mt. on the strength of increased activity in logs and other wood in the rough and wood pulp. Forest and wood products accounted for 77% of all shipments and pulp and paper products made up another 16% of the total cargo handled in 2002.

The total cargo handled at the port of Belledune decreased 1.1% from 2001 to 2.3 Mt. in 2002. The port handled 2.0 Mt. of international cargo representing 88% of the ports total activity. The top three commodities handled were coal (1.0 Mt.), other metallic ores and concentrates (0.5 Mt.) and other non-metallic minerals (0.2 Mt.) and together, they accounted for over 79% of the total activity at the port.

Toronto handled 1.6 Mt. of marine cargo in 2002, down 12.5% over 2001 activity levels. Sugar, cement, salt and iron and steel – primary and semi-finished products were the major commodities making up almost 94% of the cargoes handled at Toronto. Domestic and international activity was split fairly evenly with 786 kilotonnes of domestic cargo handled compared to 790 kilotonnes of international cargo handled.

The port of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, handled a record 1.4 Mt. of marine cargo in 2002, an increase of 6.0% over 2001. Most of this increase can be attributed to the growth in offshore oil activity. Over 98% of total cargo handled or 1.3 Mt. was domestic cargo with the main contributors being shipments of manufactured and miscellaneous goods (656 kilotonnes) from Montréal and Halifax and fuels and basic chemicals (454 kilotonnes) originating in Saint John and Halifax.

Saguenay Port (Chicoutimi) handled 435 kilotonnes of marine cargo in 2002 compared to 411 kilotonnes in 2001. International cargo accounted for over 80% of the ports activity. In 2002, Saguenay Port handled 351 kilotonnes of international cargo, up 6.2% from a year earlier. Pulp and paper products totalling 215 kilotonnes were shipped world-wide to ports in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, South America and the United States. Domestic tonnage increased 4.7% to 83.7 kilotonnes due to increased salt shipments.

The port of Port Alberni handled 473 kilotonnes of cargo in 2002, up 43.3% from the 330 kilotonnes handled in 2001. Strong increases in both domestic and international shipments contributed to the overall gain. Forest and wood products were the sole product class in 2002 and included shipments of logs and other wood in the rough, lumber and wood chips.