Port of Churchill destined for bigger role in Canada’s foreign trade

by Leo Ryan Sep 23, 2025 | Published in Issue 781 on page 28

Aerial view of zinc critical minerals shipment at Port of Churchill. Courtesy of Arctic Gateway Group.

A historic new chapter is looming this fall for the northern Manitoba remote Port of Churchill, Canada’s only deepwater facility with Arctic Ocean access. Owned and operated by the Arctic Gateway Group (AGG), a partnership of First Nations and Hudson Bay Communities, it has recently emerged high on the federal government’s infrastructure agenda for broadening trade across the Atlantic with Europe and developing markets for critical minerals and LNG. Such diversification and trade expansion are all in response to the new world order ignited by President Trump’s tariff warfare.

While in Germany in August, Prime Minister Mark Carney singled out Churchill as well as the Port of Montreal for major infrastructure investments to be announced in a matter of weeks.

“Our government,” Carney said, “is in the process of unleashing half a trillion dollars of investment in energy infrastructure, port infrastructure, particularly intelligence infrastructure.” He referred to the Churchill undertaking as virtually creating “a new port.”

His remarks came just days after the AGG and Fednav Limited, Canada’s pioneering Arctic shipping enterprise, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore strengthening Canada’s Arctic trade corridor through the Port of Churchill.

This collaboration will rely on Fednav’s decades-old expertise in Arctic marine operations (mainly concentrated on services to mining companies) and AGG’s established trade and transportation infrastructure. Among other things, the MOU will focus on the evaluation of a potential sustainable, commercially supported 12-month shipping season through the Port of Churchill as climate change takes hold and the annual shipping window is no longer restricted to four months from July to October.

Year-Round Shipping on the Horizon

“This partnership could be a game-changer for the Port of Churchill and Canada’s Arctic trade ambitions,” said Chris Avery, CEO, Arctic Gateway Group. Fednav’s long-standing leadership in marine operations complements our commitment to strengthening Churchill’s already established position as a northern trade gateway. Together, we’re laying the groundwork for a new era of year-round shipping that reflects northern priorities, the Canadian national interest, and the global demand for Canadian resources.”

Paul Pathy, Fednav’s President and CEO, declared: “Fednav is pleased to partner with Arctic Gateway to explore this ambitious and forward-looking vision for the Port of Churchill. We see tremendous potential in combining our marine and logistics expertise with AGG’s unique ownership model and regional leadership, further establishing Churchill as the key to unlock sustainable growth in the North.”

In July, AGG announced the tripling of its critical mineral storage capacity at the port and increased freight volume along the 450-mile Hudson Bay Railway.

In its heyday in 2007, when Churchill was a prime customer for Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) exports, it shipped 620,000 metric tons of grain to overseas markets. But operations were shut down in 2016 following the elimination by Ottawa of the CWB’s grain export monopoly and shift of cargo to non-Arctic ports.

The port resumed operations in 2019, handling some 138,000 tons of grain products, after the AGG and partners purchased the port in 2018.

A Rail Line in Permafrost Territory

From the launching of grain shipping shipments in 1931, smooth operations at the port have been challenged by the substantial permafrost conditions along the rail line. Moreover, in 2017 the rail line was severely damaged by flooding. Over 160 miles of the rail line required the installation of rock ballast below the surface of the track.

AGG officials affirm that the Hudson Bay Rail line is today in its best condition in over 30 years due to the extensive rehabilitation efforts and ongoing investments. Major improvements included the significant ballast and tie replacement, bridge rehabilitation, and the implementation of modern technology like drones and LIDAR for track monitoring, which help combat past issues such as permafrost thaw and flooding. These upgrades have reportedly improved track quality, reduced travel times by about 10 hours.

Since 2018, the Canadian and Manitoba governments have invested over $300 million in the restoration, operation and maintenance of the Hudson Bay Railway and AGG assets. This has allowed the port to begin shipping critical minerals in the summer of 2024.

In a related development, this past March the AGG announced a significant expansion of its critical mineral export partnership with Hudbay Minerals Inc. Building on last year’s successful shipment of zinc concentrate from the Port of Churchill to international markets, this year Hudbay and AGG plan to double the volume of critical minerals shipped through the Port of Churchill.

Leo Ryan

CANADA CORRESPONDENT

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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.