INTERNATIONAL MARITIME
IMPORTING | EXPORTING | PORTS | CARRIERS | BREAKBULK | GLOBAL LOGISTICS
22 THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE www.joc.com SEPTEMBER 18.2017
By Mark Szakonyi
CONTAINER VOLUME THROUGH Canada's
four largest ports soared 8.5 percent year
over year in the first half, outpacing global
growth and spurring Maersk Line to take
on additional trans-Atlantic capacity.
Total Canadian volume rose more than
10 percent in the first six months compared to
the first half of 2016. Strong demand for con-
sumer goods drove import gains, and grains,
lentils, and forest products sparked growth in
exports, Jack Mahoney, president of Maersk
Line Canada told The Journal of Commerce.
Maersk's Canadian containerized trade rose
15 percent in the first half, while global con-
tainer volume rose 6.7 percent, according to
maritime analyst Alphaliner.
"Canada is a trading country," Mahoney
said. "There is very pro-trade mentality and
an understanding of how contributes sub-
stantially to GDP."
GDP growth will more than double to
3 percent this year from the 1.47 percent
in 2016, according to IHS Markit, parent
company of The Journal of Commerce.Trade
strength this year has prompted IHS Markit
to upgrade its outlook for exports, which
includes containerized trade, bulk, and
breakbulk cargo, to 2.3 percent, compared to
a 1 percent gain in 2016. It also improved its
import outlook for 2017 to 2.8 percent, after
imports shrank 0.9 percent in 2016.
The growth prompted Maersk, the
world's largest container line, to take slots on
a Hapag-Lloyd service connecting Montreal
to the Mediterranean ports of Algeciras,
Cagilari, Fos sur Mer, Salerno, Genoa,
Livorno, Tan-giers, Valencia, and Vigo,
Mahoney said. In addition to the new offer-
ing, which taps into the Toronto market,
Maersk operates a trans-Atlantic service to
North Europe, a trans-Pacific service from
the ports of Prince Rupert and Vancouver,
and another Asia service with Vancouver as
the only Canadian port of call.
The new slot offering, dubbed the Med-
iterranean-Canada Express Service, gives
the carrier and its customers capacity to
capitalize on trans-Atlantic trade growth
bolstered by the Canada-European Union
trade pact. The Comprehensive Economic
and Trade Agreement, which eliminates
tariffs on 98 percent of trade between the
two partners, is set to take effect later this
month.
Of the top four Canadian container
ports, Halifax recorded the sharpest volume
growth in the first half, as it did in 2016. Hal-
ifax volume rocketed 16.7 percent from the
same period last year, to about 274,650 TEU.
Halifax, the third-fastest growing of North
America's top 25 ports last year, has added
two trans-Pacific services and a north-south
service in the last 18 months.
The Port of Prince Rupert experienced
the second-fastest rate of growth, as traffic
at the British Columbian gateway jumped
15.2 percent, to 422,866 TEU. The opening
of a nearby transload facility this month
will help fuel demand for the opening of
the expanded terminal, also this month.
DP World's Fairview Container Terminal
will then have an annual capacity of 1.3 mil-
lion TEU, up from its previous capacity of
850,000 TEU.
Volume at the Port of Montreal, Canada's
second-busiest port, rose 6.2 percent in the
first half, to about 752,970 TEU. The port
can take on the growth, thanks partly to
the 2016 opening up Viau Container Ter
-
minal, designed to handle up to 450,000
TEU initially, while a possible expansion
could increase annual capacity by another
150,000 TEU.
Vancouver, the country's busiest port, set
a midyear record with TEU traffic of nearly
1.6 million TEU, up 9.6 percent from the
same period in 2016. To handle the growth,
Vancouver is pursuing several expansion
projects at existing facilities, and has a
longer-term plan to build a new container
terminal at Roberts Bank that will have a
capacity of 2.4 million TEU, set for an esti-
mated completion in the mid-2020s. JOC
Contact Mark Szakonyi at
mark.szakonyi@ihsmarkit.com and
follow him on Twitter: @szakonyi_joc.
CANADA'S
GROWTH SPURT
Volume surges at the country's top four container ports
as strong economic growth spurs import and export gains
