Key Takeaways
- The growth of Port Saint John is crucial to meeting the objective of increasing trade outside the U.S.
- The port has undergone significant infrastructure improvements, including a new berth, deepened and widened channel, and enhanced storage and transportation capabilities.
- A new 190,000-square-foot cold-storage facility is under construction, which will help the port store products before they are loaded onto container ships.
- The federal government will continue to work with the city and provincial government to improve shipping infrastructure, including addressing traffic issues at Simms Corner.
- The port has quadrupled its potential yearly shipping capacity to over 800,000 TEUs, and has ambitious growth targets with the infrastructure to meet them.
Introduction to Port Saint John
The growth of Port Saint John is critical to meeting Prime Minister Mark Carney’s objective of greatly increasing trade outside the U.S. The federal trade minister, Steven MacKinnon, recently visited Saint John to mark the completion of nearly $250 million of work to improve port infrastructure. MacKinnon emphasized the importance of the port, stating that it is the third largest port in Canada in terms of tonnage and offers many key advantages, including being a year-round port with new infrastructure.
Infrastructure Improvements
As part of the west-side modernization project, the port has made significant investments, including an additional berth, a deepened and widened channel, and enhanced storage and transportation capabilities. The project has been over a decade in the making and has involved many governments of different political parties. The port’s CEO, Craig Bell Estabrooks, expressed his pride in the completion of the project and the momentum it has created for the gateway. The project has also created hundreds of jobs on the waterfront, with many more expected to follow.
Cold-Storage Facility
The port will soon have a 190,000-square-foot cold-storage facility, which is currently under construction. The facility, which will allow the port to store products before they are loaded onto container ships, is of national importance, according to MacKinnon. The facility will help New Brunswick with its frozen food and refrigerated food exports, and will also help Canada with its food security by providing an import facility for fresh and frozen produce. The port has partnered with Americold, which owns or operates 239 cold-storage facilities worldwide, to build the $80-million facility.
Shipping Infrastructure
The federal government will continue to work with the city and provincial government to improve shipping infrastructure, including addressing traffic issues at Simms Corner. MacKinnon stated that the project is a matter of national importance and will make things easier for trucks, trains, cars, and pedestrians that have to navigate a busy and often chaotic major intersection. The project is part of a shipping corridor and will help to "de-bottleneck" the port and the trains going into the port, making life better for people in Saint John.
Growth Targets
The port has ambitious growth targets, and with the infrastructure upgrades, it now has the capacity to meet them. The CEO of the container terminal operator DP World Canada, Douglas Smith, stated that the infrastructure upgrades are critical to growth plans. Smith expressed his confidence in the location and the infrastructure, stating that DP World has signed up for a multi-decade lease with decades of extensions. The port has quadrupled its potential yearly shipping capacity to over 800,000 TEUs, and Smith believes that reaching one million TEUs annually is not far-fetched, with the port already halfway to that goal.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the growth of Port Saint John is crucial to meeting the objective of increasing trade outside the U.S. The port has undergone significant infrastructure improvements, and with the addition of a new cold-storage facility, it is well-positioned to meet its ambitious growth targets. The federal government’s commitment to improving shipping infrastructure will also help to support the port’s growth and make life better for people in Saint John. With its increased capacity and infrastructure upgrades, Port Saint John is poised to play a significant role in Canada’s trade future.
