Publications

Highlights

Warning View the most recent version.

Archived Content

Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please "contact us" to request a format other than those available.

Archived

This page has been archived on the Web.

  1. Canadian ports and marine terminals saw their cargo handling activity rebound to 450.0 million metric tonnes (Mt) in 2010 after experiencing the effects of the 2009 international economic recession. This represented a 9.8% increase over the 410.0Mt handled in 2009.
  2. In 2010, Canadian ports handled 333.6Mt of international cargo, up from 301.8Mt in 2009. The major contributors by tonnage to this increase were shipments of coal (up 11.3Mt), iron ores and concentrates (up 5.4Mt), and potash (up 3.9Mt).
  3. The total quantity of domestic cargo handled rose to 116.5Mt from 108.2Mt in 2009, led by increases in iron ores and concentrates (up 3.7Mt) and limestone (up 1.8Mt).
  4. International containerized cargo handled in 2010 at Canadian ports and marine terminals increased both in terms of volume and tonnage compared with the 2009 levels. The volume of containerized cargo reached 4.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from 3.9 million TEUs, while the tonnage rose to 38.7Mt from 34.8Mt in 2009.
  5. Canada's marine freight traffic to and from the United States increased to 102.9Mt, a 4.0% increase from 2009. While an improvement over the 2009 recessionary period, the tonnage handled in 2010 was still 13.2% lower than the 118.6Mt moved between Canadian and American ports in the pre-recessionary period of 2008.
  6. International marine shipments with countries other than the United States rose to 230.7Mt, a 13.7% increase over the 202.8Mt handled in 2009. This represents the highest level of shipments over the last twenty years. The main driver behind this overall growth was outbound cargo shipments (up 21.2Mt), particularly those destined for Asia (up 11.8Mt) and Europe (up 4.5Mt).
  7. The total cargo handled by the 17 Canadian Port Authorities (CPAs) in 2010 was 268.6Mt, a 14.5% increase from the 234.6Mt handled in 2009. These ports and terminals were responsible for 59.7% of the total marine cargo moved in Canada in 2010, an increase from 54.6% and 57.2% in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
  8. Canada's busiest port, Port Metro Vancouver, handled 104.7Mt, up 15.9% from the 90.4Mt shipped in 2009. The increase in tonnage represented the largest year-over-year gain of any port in Canada. The top commodities responsible for the increase were coal, up 6.5Mt and potash, up 3.3Mt.
  9. The port which experienced the largest decline in tonnage in 2010 was Port Hawkesbury with a decrease to 26.3Mt, or 10.5% below the 2009 level of 29.4Mt. This was largely a result of a 2.8Mt or 12.1% reduction in the tonnage of crude petroleum handled at the port.
  10. The port of Saint John, New Brunswick experienced an increase of 16.0% in its tonnage handled in 2010, to 30.6Mt from 26.4Mt in 2009, mostly attributed to increased shipments of crude petroleum.
  11. The port of Come-by-Chance handled 27.1Mt in 2010, up 11.2% from the level attained in 2009. The gain was primarily due to the 2.2Mt or 10.8% increase in crude petroleum, the port's dominant commodity.
  12. Shipping activity at the port of Montréal, including Contrecoeur, increased by 1.0Mt to 24.8Mt from 2009. The growth was attributed to an 8.3% increase in inbound shipments. International containerized cargo also increased 6.1% to 1.2 million TEUs from 1.1 million TEUs.
  13. The port of Sept-Îles, including Pointe-Noire, saw strong growth in 2010 as total cargo handled reached 24.6Mt, up 4.5Mt from the 2009 level. The gain was due mainly to a rise in the shipments of iron ores and concentrates, all of which were outbound, primarily to ports in Asia or Europe.
  14. The port of Québec, including Lévis, experienced a gain of 10.4% in tonnage handled, from 22.3Mt in 2009 to 24.6Mt in 2010. Most of the growth was due to international shipments which grew 11.9% over 2009. Increased demand by the steel industry for iron ores and concentrates saw international shipments of this commodity rising 63.8% in 2010 to 3.7Mt from 2.3Mt in 2009.
  15. Port-Cartier witnessed a 2.0% decline in its cargo handled in 2010 to 17.9Mt from 18.3Mt in 2009. Principally responsible for this decline was a drop of 1.9Mt in international departures of iron ores and concentrates which was not fully offset by the 1.7Mt increase in domestic departures of this same commodity.
  16. Shipping activity at the port of Prince Rupert rose 33.2% to 15.0Mt over the 2009 level of 11.3Mt. These gains were largely driven by increased shipments of coal, up 95.6% to 6.5Mt, and coal coke and petroleum coke, up 85.1% to 1.1Mt. Offsetting these increases was a decline of 26.3% to 3.4Mt in shipments of wheat.
Date modified: