Canadian ports are experiencing a boom as Ottawa works to boost trade to global markets.
Exports from Canada to non-U.S. countries increased by 17 per cent in 2025 from the prior year, while Canada’s busiest port, in Vancouver, handled record cargo volumes in both 2025 and the first half of 2026.
But experts say years of underinvestment have left Canadian ports well behind global leaders.
“The fact that the port infrastructure is capable of answering that shift [away from U.S. markets] in Canadian trade is a sign that the ports are ready for that,” said Claude Comtois, professor of geography and maritime transport at Université de Montréal.
“Except that this momentum will last maybe a few months, maybe a year or two.
“After that, major investment will have to be dedicated in order to be able to answer that increasing change in supply chain.”
New opportunities
Canada has 17 large ports, with the five largest in Vancouver, Montreal, Prince Rupert, Halifax and Saint John. All 17 have their own port authority, which are autonomous federal corporations mandated to increase growth and trade.
Ports earn revenue by leasing property to terminal operators and charging fees on ships and cargo. The Port of Vancouver alone contributes about $16 billion a year to Canada’s GDP.
Yet, despite their economic weight, ports are rarely top of mind in public discourse.
“The average taxpayer doesn’t really think about ports very often, even though they’re so crucial to our economy,” said Comtois.
“You don’t have a maritime philosophy among the population.”
This may start to change. The Carney government has been aggressively pursuing closer trade ties with Asia, Europe and the Middle East — markets Canada mainly reaches by sea.
Julien Baudry, vice-president of strategic affairs and communications at the Montreal Port Authority, says these trade shifts are becoming more noticeable to consumers.
“What we’ve seen in the past two years is that the habits of Canadian consumers are evolving,” he said.
“A good example is if you go to the grocery shop, you might see more projects that are coming out of Africa and out of Europe for citrus products. So the oranges that you’re buying might be coming from Spain or Morocco, not from Florida anymore.”
But trade deals can take years to deliver economic gains, says Mary Brooks, a transportation policy professor at Dalhousie University. NAFTA came into force in 1994, but businesses did not really see its benefits for about seven years, she says.
Peter Hall, a professor of urban studies at Simon Fraser University, is similarly circumspect about the short-term impact of Canada’s recently announced trade deals.
“If you’re talking about energy specifically in the last six months, the war in Iran and the impact on energy prices has had far more of an impact than trade arrangements,” said Hall, whose research focuses on transportation geography.
Modernization
Where sources agree, however, is on the need for Canada’s ports to accommodate more trade.
“[W]hile global competitors have moved toward port automation, Canada currently lacks meaningful automated capacity, hindering the efficiency of its global gateways,” Transport Canada’s 2025 annual report says.
A 2024 report by the World Bank also points to problems. The report ranks 405 global ports for their efficiency. Halifax was the only Canadian port to come in the top 100; the rest were in the 300s.
Canadian ports are generally far behind on technological adoption, labour relations and infrastructure.
“I just came back from a field trip in Gothenburg, Sweden, and they [are] 15 years ahead of us,” said Comtois, citing improvements in the clean technology its ports and ships use.
“It’s not only a question of being backward, it’s just we don’t have the investment dedicated for that kind of equipment. And it’s very expensive,” he said.
Baudry points to the Port of Philadelphia as another standout. It has created an “ecosystem” of cold storage warehouses and trucks for its agri-food sector to operate around the clock.
Automation — and the fear it will displace jobs — has been a main concern for the unions that represent Canada’s longshore workers. This was a key issue in strikes and lockouts at major ports in 2023 and 2024.
Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu says Bill C-39, the proposed Building Canada Strong Act, would modernize Canada’s labour relation laws.
But many unions have deemed it a threat to Canadian workers’ right to strike.
“I understand what [Hajdu] is trying to get across, that we need to modernize … but at what cost? We do have constitutional rights,” said Rickey Baryer, president of Vancouver-based International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 500.
“Anytime we have a work stoppage, it’s going to affect the national interest of the country, whether it’s for an hour, or whether it’s for 13 days, like in 2023. It’s just going to corner us into a spot where there’s going to be an interest binding arbitration.”
Comtois says automation could ultimately benefit workers, but they need to be brought along with the changes.
“We need to convince them … that we’re going to create new jobs that will necessitate continuous education, upgrade their training.”
Infrastructure upgrades are also needed.
In 2025, the European Union passed rules setting greenhouse gas intensity limits for ships that dock at its ports. After 2030, ships will also have to either plug into shore power while docked, which lets them switch off their engines, or use another zero-emission technology.
Comtois says these laws will force Canadian ports to adapt.
“What is very badly needed is to pursue the energy transition … and it’s very expensive,” he said. He estimates the cost of upgrading ports and ships to provide on-shore power at $10 million per port berth and $2 million per ship.
“Canada must make some efforts in order to be on par with European partners.”
New investment
Canada’s two largest ports, in Vancouver and Montreal, are expected to see major investments in coming years.
At the Port of Vancouver, the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion is nearly underway; it is projected to increase the port’s capacity by nearly 50 per cent and cost around $5.9 billion.
“When you look at the capacity of the Port of Vancouver, it’s bigger than the capacity of the next five biggest ports in Canada combined,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said in Delta, B.C. this July.
“But within the next decade, it’s not going to be enough.”
This expansion has been more than a decade in the making. Its environmental assessment process began in 2013, and the project was finally approved in 2023.
Last Friday, it was also designated the government’s second project of national interest, meaning Ottawa can streamline approvals and assessments. Early design and engineering work is expected to start in 2027.
But Hall noted many pieces need to come together to realize gains from major infrastructure projects, particularly energy-related ones.
“It’s very difficult to do energy exports without the entire chain being put in place, because it’s not like a container which you can reroute to another facility,” he said.
“There’s no point building a pipeline and then waiting until you’ve got the extraction at the one end and the storage capacity at the other end. You do that all as a package.”
In the east, a major expansion of the Port of Montreal, known as the Contrecoeur expansion, has been referred to the federal government’s Major Projects Office, which also helps accelerate large projects.
The Contrecoeur expansion is expected to increase the port’s capacity by 60 per cent and cost around $2.3 billion. Its referral to the Major Projects Office signals Ottawa’s push for more competitive ports, says Baudry.
“I think this has been a strong message, not only to the industry and to the rest of the world, but also to the importers and exporters in this country,” said Baudry.
“It sends a message that not only do we need to diversify our trade relationships, but we’ll have the proper infrastructure to allow those importers and exporters to trade with the rest of the world.”
Last week, the Port of Churchill in northern Manitoba also signed a memorandum of understanding with Dubai-based DP World — a major investor in Montreal, Vancouver and Prince Rupert’s ports — to expand its operations.
While there was no price tag associated with the MOU, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew has previously said an expansion could require over $70 billion in investment.
The investment into ports across the country points in the right direction, says Comtois. But for Canadian ports to truly catch up to its global competitors, investment will have to escalate.
“Whether it’s Montreal, Quebec, Trois-Rivières, Vancouver or Prince Rupert, [Carney] wants to invest massively into [ports],” Comtois said.
“They are progressing — except it’s a lot of money.”
