Prince Rupert adds export capacity to bolster Canada’s international trade

by Leo Ryan Sep 17, 2026

The moment was fortuitous for the big event which drew some 200 industry, government and regional First Nations officials at the northern British Columbia deep sea gateway. The Port of Prince Rupert has, in recent years, been resolutely leveraging its location arguably offering the shortest transit time between North America’s Pacific Coast ports and Southeast Asia. Coinciding with the latest Trump salvo in the tariff war with Canada and an accelerated Carney government campaign to double non-US export trade by 2035, the occasion was the grand opening in late August of the innovative CANXPORT logistics facility in the port’s Ridley Island section.

“It opens up an opportunity to export more, and it gives us access to Asian markets that are different than what we’ve done traditionally,” enthusiastically stated Kurt Slocombe, who was appointed new President and CEO of the Prince Rupert Port Authority last April.

Slocombe indicated that currently more than 50% of the Port of Prince Rupert’s containers returning to Asia are empty. “So initially, we’re just going to eat up the existing empty container fleet that’s available to us. Then secondly, it will lead to an increase in empty or export containers to supply the empty or export requirements,” he added.

Canada’s Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon opined that the transloading container facility will open “new opportunities in fast-growing international markets.”

Under construction for three years, the C$750 million logistics complex, closely supported by the CN continental railway network, is the first of a series of major projects to come online at the port as part of a C$3 billion expansion blueprint.

Ray-Mont Logistics in the Vanguard

It will be operated by Montreal-based Ray-Mont Logistics, a growing industry player in the United States as well as Canada. In addition to terminals in Montreal, Vancouver and Prince Rupert, Ray-Mont operates transloading facilities in Seattle, Charleston, Norfolk and Mobile.

The CANXPORT facility combines direct transloading from rail cars into containers of bulk commodities including petrochemical, forestry, agriculture and mining products. It will contribute up to 400,000 TEUs of transloading capacity annually – with an option to boost capacity to 750,000 TEUs for bulk and breakbulk commodities in the future.

“As a Canadian company, Ray-Mont Logistics is proud to invest in Prince Rupert and deliver a made-in-Canada solution that supports Canadian exporters and businesses,” commented Charles Raymond, President and CEO. “CANXPORT will lead the way in creating economic opportunities across the country and demonstrate what Canadian innovation can achieve on the global stage.”

Port Cargo Trends and Outlook

Meanwhile, in the first half of 2026, cargo shipments through the Port of Prince Rupert were basically holding steady, with total volume to the end of July attaining 15.4 million metric tons versus 15.2 million tons a year earlier. Container traffic at Fairview terminal stood at 5.0 million tonnes versus 5.1 million tonnes. Coal cargo at 5.7 million tons was at comparable year-earlier levels whereas grain was up substantially: 3.5 million tons as opposed to 2.9 million tons.

In 2025, the port handled 26.3 million tons, a 14 percent increase over 2024. Intermodal traffic through DP World Prince Rupert’s Fairview Container Terminal rose 20 percent year-over-year to 885,797 TEUs, bolstered by robust volumes in the second half of 2025.

The 2025 strong rebound followed a challenging period of restructured shipping lines and services, wildfire-related rail disruptions, and labor disputes. The present growth trends show a dual picture: while total bulk tonnage and energy exports remain robust, container volumes are still working to regain their pre-pandemic peaks of over one million TEUs. But here, CANXPORT looks to be positioned to make a significant contribution in the years ahead.

Projects Underway

Beyond the operational performance in 2025, the Port of Prince Rupert made considerable progress on several major projects accounting for more than $3 billion in capital investment, including the Ridley Island Energy Export Facility (REEF), and the leveling of the 108-acre site for CANXPORT, a rail-fed logistics and transloading facility that will offer 400,000 TEUs of annual export capacity for forestry, agricultural, and resin products.

In Q1 2025, the Canada Infrastructure Bank reached financial close on a $60.7 million loan to Metlakatla Development Corporation to develop the South Kaien Logistics Park. This joint venture project with PRPA is creating a new logistics and warehousing complex a short distance from Fairview Container Terminal, CANXPORT, and CN’s mainline. IntermodeX will be the first tenant, operating its new logistics hub with more than 100,000 TEUs of annual capacity and creating 200 new jobs.

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.