Canadian government boosts container vision of Port of Quebec

For brief period up to the late 1970s and early 1980’s, the Port of Quebec, though focused traditionally on bulk traffic, was handling moderate volumes of container cargo on a regular basis with liner services. But then Manchester Liners withdrew from Great Lakes and Quebec services and CP Ships transitioned its container operations at Wolfe’s Cove terminal and shifted to the Port of Montreal. The move was driven by the need for more efficient, centralized rail connections and larger dedicated cellular vessels that favored Montreal’s container facilities and deeper inland location in North America.

Flash forward to this past Friday (April 24): today’s Port of Quebec, in effect, entered a new chapter in its history with a federal government decision that will position it to become in the near future the second container port on the St. Lawrence River after Montreal – thereby adding another logistics and supply chain dimension to the St. Lawrence corridor which, in the past few years has notably lost substantial traffic to and from the Midwest to US East Coast ports that have invested massively in infrastructure to handle the new generation of big containerships.

During a press conference at the Beauport sector of the port, Joël Lightbound, Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement, announced that Canada, through the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), will grant the Port of Quebec certification to become a first port of arrival capable of receiving international maritime containers.

“What we are announcing today marks a decisive step forward in our government’s efforts to diversify our trade, become competitive on the international stage and remove barriers to Canada’s prosperity,” said Lightbound. “With a primary port of entry, the Québec City region will no longer be just another transit point. It will become a strategic hub that will contribute even further to the vitality and economic dynamism of Québec City, Québec and Canada.”

Earlier this month, on April 9, Prime Minister Carney announced an allocation of C$1.16 billion in financing through the Canada Infrastructure Bank to advance the construction of a long-delayed new Port of Montreal container terminal costing an estimated C$2.3 billion at Contrecoeur. The latter, 25 miles northeast of Montreal, is to add capacity of 1.15 million TEUs and is slated to be operational by 2030 by DP World - assuming all proceeds on schedule.

At present, the CBSA operates marine container examination facilities in five ports in Canada: Halifax, Saint John, Montreal, Vancouver and Prince Rupert.

Olga Farman, CEO of the Québec Port Authority, declared: “This designation as an international container port represents a major step forward for the Port of Québec and for the entire logistics chain in Québec and Canada.”

The CBSA is working closely with its partners, including the Quebec Port Authority and terminal operator QSL, to meet the conditions for the appropriate designation, licensing and container inspection facility requirements. Based on this work, the CBSA will provide the port with all the detection technology and border services officers required for a primary port of entry.

The planned QSL container facility, with targeted annual volume of 200,000 containers is designed to complement rather than compete directly with Montreal – an option that Montreal port officials have recently actually viewed as a positive contribution for the long-term competitiveness of the St. Lawrence waterway.

Of significance is the fact that the Port of Quebec is a deep-water port with a depth of 49 feet (15 meters) at low tide which allows for handling larger vessels.

For its part, the Montreal navigation channel standard draft is 37 feet (11.3 meters). While Montreal can technically accommodate post-Panamax ships up to 6,700 TEUs, the average loads of box ships calling run closer to 4,500 TEUs.

Thus, larger vessels could potentially top-off several thousand containers at the Port of Quebec to reduce their water level impacts before pursuing their journey to Montreal at lower slot costs.

It was In July 2024, that QSL, whose existing operations concentrate on bulk products, initiated analysis of a business case for a container terminal to optimize cargo transhipment and improve supply chain competitiveness.

Proposed QSL terminal does not encroach on aquatic habitat

Three years previously, Ottawa gave thumbs down on environmental grounds to the Laurentia project involving the Hutchison terminal group in the same Beaufort industrial area.

Responding to the government’s certification decision, Robert Bellisle, QSL President and Chief Executive Officer stressed that the project is based on optimizing existing infrastructure without encroaching on the river. “By promoting marine transportation via vessels travelling to and from Montreal, the project would also help reduce land-based freight traffic and greenhouse gas emissions associated with transportation.”

“With this milestone reached,” he continued, “QSL will be able to finalize and submit its notice of project to the Port of Quebec.”

The project will then be subject to the Port of Quebec’s impact assessment and mitigation process, including public consultations, that is expected to take between 9 and 12 months.

QSL is reportedly prepared to initially invest “tens of millions of dollars” to transform part of the bulk handling area for container operations. (See artist rendering of project.)

From its base in the Port of Quebec, QSL has expanded into a major terminal operator and stevedore, with some 60 terminals in Canada and the United States, including in Chicago, Texas, and New Orleans. On the St. Lawrence River, it operates facilities at Sorel-Tracy, Bickerdike terminal in Montreal for domestic containers (to and from Newfoundland) and Bécancour (container stuffing for shipments to northern Canada communities).