OTTAWA: The signing of two major trade deals with global trading partners will help send Canada’s growth in imports and exports by container surging past that of the United States, marine shipper Maersk Line says.
As free-trade talks with the United States and Mexico drag on, Canada launched a trade agreement with Europe in September and is set to sign a deal in March to join an 11-country trading bloc that includes Japan, Chile and Malaysia.
Canada’s overseas trade in containerized goods – everything from clothing to auto parts and chilled pork will rise by 7 per cent this year, compared with U.S. growth of 2 per cent to 4 per cent, Maersk says in a new report on trade.
Containerized imports and exports rose by 7 per cent in 2017, and are positioned to rise again in 2018 with the launch of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Europe, according to Maersk Line, which calls on container terminals at most North American ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Montreal and Halifax.
Meanwhile, North American free-trade talks are set to resume this week in Mexico City after previous sessions failed to overcome contentious points in the three-way agreement.
Mr. Mahoney said in a phone interview he expects CPTPP will boost exports and bring steady and sustained rising volumes of two-way trade to Canada’s West Coast.
The boom in trade has set volume records at Halifax and Prince Rupert, and has spurred terminal expansions in Montreal and Vancouver.
At Prince Rupert, container-terminal operator DP World recently expanded capacity by 60 per cent in a move that capitalizes on the port’s reputation as a congestion-free facility with faster trips to major markets. Maersk says the port is one to three days closer to Asia than U.S. West Coast ports, and containers reach Chicago, Montreal or Toronto more quickly than from U.S. hubs.
