- By Leo Ryan, AJOT Within the context of the continuing hot global bulk/breakbulk market, Canadian ports on the eastern seaboard are more than holding their own – despite the rising shift of bulk cargo to containers and the reduction of breakbulk services. Industry observers expect volumes to stay brisk, including across the Atlantic, despite considerably lower expectations for a US economy seemingly on the edge of recession and a subsequent slowdown in Canadian economic growth. Remaining distinctly bullish in the current environment is the New Brunswick Port of Saint John in the Bay of Fundy. It recently reported a nine percent increase to over 27 million metric tons in total cargo handled by the private and public facilities in 2007. (The large private liquid bulk facilities are owned by the Irving Group.) At the same time, some important new terminal developments are laying the foundation for future growth. Building on the port’s experience with emerging markets in China and India as well as Latin America, Capt. Al Soppitt, president and CEO of the Saint John Port Authority has set the goal of doubling throughput within five years at the public facilities. This would translate into two million tons of bulk cargo and one million tons of breakbulk. In 2007, Saint John’s liquid bulk increased by 9% to over 25 million tons. There were gains in all sectors – petroleum products, chemicals, fish oil and molasses. In dry bulk, cargo through the Barrack Point Potash Terminal climbed by 2.8% to 1.05 million tons. There were also increases in sugar and limestone imports. A revival of lumber exports contributed to a 3% increase in forest products. Breakbulk cargo at the Lower Cove terminal rose to 98,000 tons versus the year-earlier 20,000 tons. A new dry bulk terminal being built for petroleum coke is expected to add 600,000 tons annually to port traffic. Canaport LNG, a partnership between Irving Oil and Repsol YPF, plans to build a third 160,000 cubic meter liquid natural gas storage tanks alongside two existing units in Saint John. “We are the front-runner in the race to be the first LNG receiving and regasification terminal on the Atlantic coast of North America,” recently stated general manager Jorge Ciacciareli. In another terminal development, the Saint John Port Authority negotiated a new lease agreement with Logistec Stevedoring for the operation of the Rodney Container Terminal. Logistec is already the operator of the adjacent Navy Island Forest Products Terminal. Combining the assets of both adjacent facilities makes for efficient handling of containers, bulk or breakbulk cargoes. For its part, the Port of Halifax has in the past few years suffered a decline in container business, despite a big offensive to attract Asian cargo via the Suez Canal – but is pursuing its efforts, with some success, to develop bulk and breakbulk traffic. In this regard, statistics for the first 11 months of 2007 showed breakbulk cargo, at 146,696 tons, up 13.2% over the corresponding period of 2006. The export component alone soared by 150% to 28,500 tons whereas breakbulk imports were steady at 118 million tons. On the St. Lawrence River, the Port of Quebec shattered its previous year’s record with a total 2007 throughput of 26.5 million tons. “We are for bulk what Montreal is for containers,” Ross Gaudreault, president and CEO of the Quebec Port Authority, told AJOT, referring especially to the deepwater port’s prime vocation as “the bulk transshipment gateway for the Great Lakes.” Several dry bulk sectors posted increases over 2006, including nickel, alumina, scrap metal and fertilizers. With more than 5.2 million tons, iron ore led the way. In bulk liquids, petroleum products and chemicals similarly showed strong growth. Much of the growth is attributed to activity at St. Lawrence Stevedoring and at IMTT-Quebec that in the past decade has emerged as Canada’s largest liquid bulk terminal. Among other things, the latter is a leading supplier of je