Asia trade propels Port of Vancouver to record cargo volumes

by Leo Ryan Mar 23, 2026 | Published in Issue 787 on page 14

Container and bulk throughput at the Port of Vancouver is reaching unprecedented levels. Photo credit: VFPA

After setting new total and container cargo records in 2025 thanks notably to double digit growth of maritime trade with China, brisk volumes have continued to pass through Canada’s largest port. With Asia accounting for the great bulk of the Port of Vancouver’s business, the Middle East crisis has so far had relatively little impact on the operations of the Canadian West Coast port which last year handled 170.4 million metric tons (an 8% increase from 2024) and 3.8 million TEUs.

“We continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East, and our thoughts right now are with all those directly impacted,” remarked Alex Munro, the port’s senior communications advisor.

“Although the conflict is disrupting global supply chains, particularly oil, impacts on Port of Vancouver operations have been limited to date,” he told AJOT. “Over the longer term, we will monitor potential congestion at major Asian container terminals (particularly Singapore) and how long carriers continue avoiding the Suez Canal, as both could affect cargo flows and vessel schedules at the Port of Vancouver.”

In 2025, the Port of Vancouver helped deliver almost 2.1 million metric tons (MMT) of Canadian exports to markets in the Middle East, mostly grain and steelmaking coal. Most Canadian exports through the port went to the UAE, with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Oman other top destinations in the region, Munro noted.

January 2026 saw the port continue to move strong volumes of Canadian cargo with overseas markets. Compared to January 2025, grain was up 8%, crude oil was up 1%, coal was up 7% and auto was up 10%. Containers were down 4%, as was fertilizer (potash down 25%, while sulphur was up 4%).

Trade Diversification

In a recent statement on the port’s annual performance, Peter Xotta, President and CEO of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, stressed the benefits for the port of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s comprehensive trade diversification strategy. (In this connection, Carney has in the past few months staged trade-promotion visits to Malaysia, Japan, China, India and Australia.)

“As Prime Minister Carney looks to double exports to non-U.S. markets in the next decade, the Port of Vancouver is playing an outsized role in delivering more made-in-Canada products to more customers globally,” Xotta said. “We are uniquely poised to support Canada’s bold trade goals because of decades of strategic investments in terminal and rail capacity. With nation-building projects like Roberts Bank Terminal 2 and Second Narrows dredging on the horizon, we’re showing the world that Canada is open for business.”

The Port of Vancouver is Canada’s largest and North America’s most diversified port, moving more cargo than the next five largest Canadian ports combined. Connecting Canada to more than 170 international markets, the port is a critical gateway for Canadian trade—with over 85% of the cargo handled by its 29 major terminals and 1,000-plus tenants in 2025 supporting commerce beyond the US.

International trade surged by 11% in 2025 to hit the record 147.4 MMT, with more than three-quarters of international volumes passing through the port going to or coming from Indo-Pacific countries. The top trading partners through the port in 2025 were China (36% of total international volumes at 52.6 MMT), Japan (13%) and South Korea (9%). Trade with the US increased by 12% to 11.6 MMT. Domestic trade amounted to 23 MMT.

Record Commodity Exports

Strong cargo volumes moving through the port last year were underpinned by banner performances across the bulk sector, which is 98% export driven. Overall bulk volumes grew 11% to reach a record 130.7 MMT in 2025, including:

Bulk grain exports hit a new record of 30.3 MMT on the back of strong wheat exports, which were up 20% compared to 2024 to hit a record of 15.9 MMT. Wheat grown in Western Canada was delivered to 35 countries last year, including communities throughout the Indo-Pacific, Europe, Central America and Middle East regions.

Fertilizer exports through the port surged 21% in 2025, as Western Canadian potash (up 28% compared to 2024) and sulphur (up 5%) reached diverse world markets including Brazil, China and Indonesia. Potash exports hit a new record of 10.5 MMT last year, breaking the previous record set in 2020.

Crude oil exports doubled in 2025 to reach a record 24.4 MMT, as the Trans Mountain expansion enabled Alberta oilsands producers to grow exports to markets in China and South Korea. Crude oil is now one of the single largest export commodities moving through the port.

Canola oil exports reached new and growing overseas markets in 2025, as the port enabled Western Canadian farmers and crushing operations to diversify beyond traditional trading partners China and the US. This growth was led by South Korea (up 37%), Peru (up 217%) and included nine other countries that saw no canola oil exports in 2024. Exports to China and the US accounted for two-thirds of 2025’s volume, despite a combined decrease of 2%.

The strong performances across most bulk products offset a fall in bulk exports of coal and canola seed, with canola seed falling sharply from August onwards following Chinese tariffs to end the year down 23% at 6.6 MMT.

“We are already seeing encouraging signs that canola seed exports through the Port of Vancouver are recovering following a trade deal signed by Canada and China in January and are optimistic early year data will show a rebound in volumes,” said Xotta.

The Port of Vancouver handled about 50% of Canada’s total canola seed exports last year.

Long-term Container Growth Continues

Containerized cargo results were underpinned by Canadian demand, with record containerized imports (laden inbound up 5%) and containerized export volumes continuing their post-pandemic recovery (laden outbound up 3%).

Containers moved everything from exports of high-quality Canadian grain, food and forestry products to imports of household goods for Canadian families as well as machinery and manufacturing inputs destined for businesses across the country.

“Containerized trade through the port remains strong and continues to be driven by resilient Canadian demand,” explained Xotta. “As Canada prepares to double non-US exports, the container sector has a vital role to play as the preferred method for delivering high-value Canadian goods securely and reliably to international markets.”

Leo Ryan

CANADA CORRESPONDENT

Contact Author

Based in Montreal, the historic biggest Canadian gateway for North Atlantic trade, veteran journalist Leo Ryan has extensive experience as a reporter on national and international shipping, trade, political and economic developments – with strong focus in recent years on Canada-US relations and maritime/multimodal developments on Canada’s East, West and Arctic coasts as well as the binational Great Lakes-St. Lawrence corridor.

While completing a post-graduate degree in Eastern European history amidst the expansion of the Soviet Bloc, he began his career with The Montreal Star as general reporter before moving to Paris where he spent 17 years - first as Africadesk editor for the English service of Agence France Presse. Then, he built a substantial freelance network among English-language newspapers – including The Globe and Mail - as a special foreign correspondent, on a wide variety of reporting assignments in Eastern and Western Europe as well as Africa.

It was during this period, too, that he began writing on European port and economic subjects for New York’s Journal of Commerce. The latter subsequently hired him to establish in Montreal the first full-time JOC bureau in Canada, which remained open for 14 years. A highlight was an exclusive interview in 1988 with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney on the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement.

As well Canada Correspondent for AJOT, Leo Ryan is today Editor of Maritime Magazine, a bilingual Canadian quarterly. He is the recipient of the Medal of Merit of the Association of Canadian Port Authorities.