- By Leo Ryan, AJOTWhile the leading general cargo ports on Canada’s east and west coasts have developed through the years by adopting a multi-purpose vocation, other ports have sought to broaden their business base in such areas as containers, breakbulk, project cargo, and roll-on/roll-off as well as in the growing cruise industry. On the Atlantic coast, several ambitious projects are targeting potential niche container movements between Asia and North America via the Suez Canal. As a whole, Canadian ports are gearing up for the post-recession recovery. “There are relatively fewer single-use ports in Canada than in the United States, so what you might call the multi-purpose trend is already strong here,” indicated Gary LeRoux, executive director of the Association of Canadian Port Authorities (ACPA). The latter groups together 17 ports, including Vancouver, Montreal, Halifax, Hamilton, Thunder Bay and Quebec City, which handle nearly 300 million metric tons of cargo. Port Metro Vancouver, by far, is the largest and a highly-diversified port, with significant bulk and container activity. The remaining Canadian ports handle about 200 million tons, with three ports – Strait of Canso Superport in Nova Scotia, Port Cartier on the St. Lawrence River and Come-By-Chance, Newfoundland accounting for about 40% of this total. Port Cartier specializes in grain while Come-By-Chance is virtually all oil. Situated at Mulgrave between mainland Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island, the Strait of Canso Superport benefits from one of the finest natural harbours on the eastern Seaboard. All the facilities are privately-owned and managed. Some 1,400 vessels call there annually, with total cargo exceeding 31 million tons. Cargo categories include manufactured goods, petroleum products, newsprint, gypsum, seafood and breakbulk. “We offer excellent prospects with lots of land available for private sector initiatives on Greenfield sites,” chief executive Tim Gilfoy told AJOT. The Superport, thus, intends to expand its asset base throughout the Strait of Canso as viable opportunities arise. Considerable emphasis is placed on public/private partnerships.  Falling within the port’s boundaries, some six miles south of Mulgrave, is the site of an ambitious container and intermodal terminal project: Melford International Terminal. Following environmental approval from the federal and provincial governments, the privately-owned enterprise hopes to launch a C$300 million, 1.5 million TEU terminal that would go on stream in 2012 – attracting calls from mega-containerships in the 8,000-12,000 TEU class. Earlier this year, in the latest chapter of competing container projects in Nova Scotia to handle anticipated growing business via the Suez Canal, the small port of Sydney has formed an alliance with the US East Coast ports of Philadelphia and Delaware. In the past few years, Sydney has sought new sources of revenue by investing heavily in a cruise terminal. Sydney Marine Group has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ports of Delaware River Marine Trade Association, the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority and the Atlantic Coast district of the International Longshoremen’s Association to develop a deepwater terminal in Sydney. If all goes according to plan, the C$200 million terminal would be operational by 2012 and accommodate  post-Panamax vessels. The terminal is seen potentially as a hub for transshipping containers for the two US ports with draft restrictions and distribution facilities into the big consumer markets in New York and elsewhere on the eastern seaboard. The project’s main obstacle remains the shallow entrance to Sydney harbour. But Donald Rowe, general manager of Sydney Port Corporation, declared that a contract was slated to be awarded soon for dredging the channel to 17 metres. Preliminary work has begun for the C$30 million dredging project, which has yet to be fully funded. In another recent development, Sydney Marine Group is looking for a new