Increased cargo volumes from Europe, Asia and Africa have put more pressure on the Port of Montreal and highlight the need for significant investments in marine-port infrastructure, Port of Montreal chief executive Julie Gascon says.Andrej Ivanov/The Globe and Mail
New data from the Port of Montreal confirm Canadian exporters are turning away from the United States toward overseas markets in greater numbers, a rapid shift its chief executive says heightens the urgency to boost investment in marine transport infrastructure.
Among the most startling numbers, Canada’s second-biggest port has logged a 77-per-cent surge in two-way cargo traffic with China over the past few months, with a 22-per-cent gain in outbound shipments to the Asian country, according to information shared with The Globe and Mail. China is now the port’s second-largest export market after India, up from fifth last year, the statistics show.
Cargo volumes from Montreal to Spain are up 147 per cent year-over-year through May, up 11 per cent to the Netherlands, and up 10 per cent to Northern Europe, the numbers show. Port officials say they’ve noticed a particular surge in exports of aerospace and other manufactured goods as well as agricultural products toward Europe. Meanwhile, inbound shipments from Africa have increased 29 per cent this year, notably because of a massive increase in cocoa imports. Traffic from Latin America is strong as well.
“Our most recent internal figures lead us to believe that this situation will have significant implications for the port,” Port of Montreal chief executive officer Julie Gascon said in prepared remarks ahead of a speech Monday to the Canadian Club. “It also opens up opportunity: Canadian businesses are diversifying their markets and many are choosing the St. Lawrence corridor to reach Europe, Africa or South America.”
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U.S. President Donald Trump has upended decades of trade ties between Canada and the United States by imposing import tariffs on aluminum, steel and other products and calling for the annexation of Canada. As companies review their business strategies and logistics in response, a growing number are reducing their reliance on the U.S. and turning to Europe and other overseas markets. That has put a new spotlight on ocean shipping and it could put pressure on existing marine-port infrastructure.
The Port of Montreal has seen a 14-per-cent gain since March on container tonnage compared with last year.Andrej Ivanov/The Globe and Mail
Total cargo volumes for container and bulk goods at the Port of Montreal have dipped about 2 per cent this year through May versus last year. But several data points are trending upward, including a 14-per-cent gain since March on container tonnage compared with last year. Port authority officials calculate that if just 6 per cent of Canadian exports to the U.S. are redirected to Europe and other overseas destinations by ship, Montreal’s docks would hit their operational capacity limits.
That’s why the port’s $1.4-billion Contrecoeur container terminal expansion has taken on a new importance, Ms. Gascon said in an interview. She said it also demonstrates the need for significant investments beyond that project, including in infrastructure to handle more modern ships that are more manoeuvrable and less polluting. Taking into account the size of its economy, Canada would need to invest three times as much as it currently does to keep up with U.S. spending, she said.
“Contrecoeur is the key,” Ms. Gascon told The Globe. “It was an important project. It’s now a critical and urgent project to do. And it’s the best answer to rising U.S. tariffs. It’s 8,000 jobs during construction, using Canadian steel. It’s 1,500 ongoing jobs after that.”
Contrecoeur, located about 40 kilometres downstream from Montreal, would boost the port’s capacity by 1.15 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) to more than three million. Plans for the new terminal call for a 675-metre-wide docking platform with berths for two ships, eight loading cranes and a container storage yard.
The federal and Quebec governments have both committed funding for Contrecoeur, and environmental assessments and procurement will wrap up over the coming months. Construction could begin as early as September.
China has become the biggest buyer of Canadian oil shipped on the Trans Mountain pipeline and loaded onto tankers on the West Coast. But it’s not entirely clear what is driving the record traffic numbers between the Port of Montreal and the Middle Kingdom at the other end of the country, which port officials say include increased volumes of food and forest products from Canada.
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The U.S.-China trade war might explain at least part of it. Some American companies sourcing Chinese goods they sell in the United States have been diverting their wares to Canadian warehouses and hoping to wait out a 145-per-cent U.S. import tariff rate on Chinese goods, The Logic reported in early May. That rate has since been scaled back significantly as the two superpowers try to hammer out a trade deal.
Canada and China have been locked in their own trade fight, triggered by Ottawa’s decision in 2024 to follow the U.S. administration in imposing 100-per-cent tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles. Canada also enacted a 25-per-cent tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum, which was met with Chinese retaliatory tariffs on Canadian canola oil and meal, peas and seafood.