The Port of Vancouver on Canada’s west coast handled 72.1 million metric tons of cargo during the first six months of 2018, up 4.4 percent from the corresponding 2017 period, the port announced Tuesday.
Vancouver Fraser Port Authority President and CEO Robin Silvester said the results demonstrate the increasing strength of the Canadian economy and the Port of Vancouver’s ability to handle Canada’s growing trade with Asia, despite general trade uncertainty.
The port consists of five sectors — automobiles, breakbulk, bulk, container and cruise — and features 27 major marine cargo terminals and three Class I railways.
Dry bulk shipments comprised more than half the tonnage that moved through the port during the first six months of 2018 at 44 million metric tons, up 0.7 percent year-over-year.
Increases in coal and potash were offset by decreases in grain products as well as declines in minerals, ores and concentrates.
The port also handled 5.8 million metric tons of liquid bulk and 8.9 million metric tons of break bulk during the first six months of 2018, up 28.3 percent and 15.4 percent year-over-year, respectively.
In terms of tonnage, container shipments during the first six months of 2018 only rose 1.6 percent year-over-year to 13.2 million metric tons. In terms of volumes, container shipments rose 5.1 percent year-over-year to 1.6 million TEUs.
BlueWater Reporting’s Port Dashboard tool shows that 19 liner services call the port that also sail to regions outside North America, including 16 that deploy fully cellular containerships, two that deploy open hatch vessels and one that deploys pure car/truck carriers.
The port authority is striving to create new capacity since forecasts illustrate that Canada’s west coast container ports will be full by the mid-2020s, the port said.
“We are partnering with our existing container terminals to expand and improve their operations, but even with these improvements, further capacity will be required, highlighting the need for the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project, a proposed new three-berth container terminal that would provide the space needed to meet forecasted demand for trade of goods in containers,” Silvester said.