36 American Journal of Transportation American Journal of Transportation ajot.com Capacity expansion at Canada’s east coast container ports targets trade diversification By Leo Ryan, AJOT (TARGETS – continued on page 39) Port of Montreal Pursues Ambitious Goals. With the Carney federal government highlighting the critical role Canadian ports must play in its trade diversification strategy aimed at lessening reli- ance on the United States, the Port of Montreal’s Contrecoeur container terminal undertaking was the first identified under “nation-building” projects sin- gled out for fast-tracking. And as the much-delayed biggest project in the modern history of the leading container gate- way on the Canadian east coast has finally concretely moved towards completion, there is a noticeable evolution of its mar- itime trading patterns. For years, Northern Europe historically represented more than half of the port’s contain- erized maritime trade. European markets even accounted for 65% of the port’s total container throughput a decade ago. But today, the proportion is down to roughly one-third of total 2025 container throughput of 1.52 million TEU. Asia is a significant grow- ing market, accounting for about one quarter - featuring notable increases in volume from China and expanding connections to India. A traditional and steady market, the Mediterranean makes up around 22% of trade, driven by robust export and import ties with countries like Morocco. Port officials point to rising trade volumes with emerging markets in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa (especially West African nations like Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, and Nigeria). This pattern has continued in 2026 with the launch of CMA CGM’s new CAGEMA service, creating a direct link between Montreal and Latin America and opening new opportunities for shippers. Grain remains one of the strongest growth stories of the port which handled 34.3 million tons of total cargo in 2025. “Building on the success of 2024, grain volumes have aver- aged 4.5 million tons over the past two years,” a port spokes- person said. “This performance reflects strong harvests across Western Canada, operational excellence at the Port, and effec- tive collaboration among part- ners including Bunge, the Port’s rail and intermodal teams, and railway partners CN and CPKC.” “Our strong grain volumes, growing trade diversification and continued progress on the Contrecoeur expansion project position the Port of Montreal for sustainable growth and rein- force our role as a key gateway for Canadian trade,” stated Paul Bird, who in June became pres- ident and CEO of the Montreal Port Authority following a cor- porate upheaval period punctu- ated by the abrupt departure in April of Julie Gascon. For Bird, it has amounted to a rapid return to the C-suite after leaving his key Contrecoeur shepherding post of chief commercial officer barely two months earlier. Advancing Contrecoeur Container Hub Project Meanwhile, the port this past August launched the in-wa- ter construction work at the site of its Contrecœur Expansion Project destined to add 1.15 million TEU to existing capac- ity. This officially marked the beginning of a major phase of construction and concluded the preparatory work carried out since fall 2025. The new phase represents an important step toward the realization of the future con- tainer terminal now slated to be Construction work was recently launched at the site of the Port of Montreal’s Contrecœur terminal project destined to add 1.15 million TEU to existing capacity; and artist rendering of Contrecoeur completed. Credit Montreal Port Authority CANADA PORTS 2026
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