LONDON: The 18 member ports of the Association of Canadian Port Authorities (ACPA) handled more than 310 million metric tons of cargo in 2014, with Vancouver and Montreal, the two largest, leading the way with record volumes. But new challenges are ever-present amidst fast-changing global trade, economic and transportation trends, port executives from across Canada were told at the recent ACPA Annual Conference and AGM held in Montreal.
The conference featured panel discussions encouraging Canadian port officials to think outside the box to remain competitive – especially in relation to U.S. ports on the east and west coasts.
Within the context of an overall theme of “Pushing The Limits”, business panels covered such subjects as the forces driving the logistics landscape, maritime trade expanding more quickly than world GDP, community relations and the need to embrace the social media revolution.
Transportation analyst Professor Claude Comtois from the Université de Montreal zeroed in on significant changes in global bulk logistics chains and seaborne trade that Canadian ports should take into consideration.
In particular, he singled out the impact on such ports as Sept-Iles of the prolonged plunge in world commodity prices and sharp decline in China’s imports of iron ore, On the North Shore of the St. Lawrence River, Sept-Iles has experienced a more than 25% drop in traffic. So has the Port of Quebec been hit by a big decrease in dry bulk cargo.
At the same time, China has been investing in iron ore projects in Africa and South America to diversify its supplies.
While acknowledging that Canadian ports have been investing substantially to increase capacity in recent years, Comtois said these investments have paled in comparison to the giant infrastructure investments in China. “Innovation in dry bulk logistics is non-negotiable.”
