Canada’s Breakbulk Boom

By Lori Musser

Twin drivers of breakbulk and project cargo volumes are supporting Canada’s journey toward net-zero emissions, coupled with a blazing North American construction market that may see some longevity. Wind energy and steel cargo are the lead shipments at many of the country’s general cargo terminals.

Canada’s ports may also soon see project cargo import growth spurred by the Investing in Canada Plan, a US$180 billion, 12-year government infrastructure plan meant to create long-term economic growth in a low-carbon manner.

Many of the plan’s projects are under way, including a few trade and transportation improvements, such as the Detroit River bridge project, and major investments in greener communities and city transit systems.

The Canadian Renewable Energy Association, or CanREA, indicates great promise for new wind energy cargo. Senior Director of Operations Phil McKay said to Breakbulk: “Canada added 677 megawatt (MW) of wind energy in 2021 – the most we’ve seen … since 2016. 2022 is on track to exceed that with over 1,000 MW under construction and 2023 could double that figure again.”

The main driver is Canada’s 2050 net-zero and 2035 decarbonized electricity system targets. McKay said that wind energy, alongside solar, will be essential to help double electricity production and reach net zero.

“Corporate power purchase agreements in Alberta’s unique, open market are driving a large portion of this growth, [as is] Saskatchewan’s Golden South project,” McKay said. Other projects continue to come online. Recent procurement announcements have been issued in Quebec and Nova Scotia.

Canada’s wind fleet regions mirror its population loads, which largely run along the Canada-U.S. border.

As Canada’s wind industry matures, McKay said there will be supply chain opportunities for “repowering, repairing, and recycling components.”

Opportunities to improve supply chains, McKay said, include using U.S. port capacity to support Canada’s wind energy projects, and embedding resilience so supply chains better accommodate Canada’s extreme weather conditions.

McKay confirmed “massive, untapped potential to expand low-cost wind and solar energy” in Canada, with the majority of components arriving by water, then moving to road and rail, but inflated supply chain prices, delays and uncertainty in workforce are challenging the industry.


Room to Spare on East Coast

In decades past, New Brunswick’s Port Saint John was blanketed with forest products. Now they typically move by container. The port’s breakbulk business is lighter today, but John Runcie, commercial partnership manager, said that means there is room for growth.

The port has two general-user facilities at Lower Cove and Long Wharf, reinforced to 1,000 pounds per square foot, or PSF, plus an overflow yard near Piers 10 and 11. Its CDN$205 million West Side Modernization project will be complete in 2023, introducing a 2,000-PSF pier strength and additional laydown space at DP World’s terminal. “That gives optionality for a lot of different cargoes,” Runcie said.

The port has four large warehouses, three stevedoring options, and two Class 1 railroads, CN and now CP, and a third Class 1 on its way, if CSX works through its Pan Am Railways acquisition.

“Our new rail options … change the game as to our hinterland,” Runcie said to Breakbulk.

Port Saint John is moving one ton super sacks of barytes by rail to the Canadian prairies, and shipments of onshore wind blades, towers and nacelles destined for Maine, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The port has also served the northeastern U.S. offshore oil and gas industry with suction anchors and monopiles, and the tidal/wave power industry of the Maritime Provinces and Maine.

Runcie said: “We may also handle offshore wind monopiles and other components headed to the northeastern U.S. There is an opportunity for transshipment, because of the Jones Act. We can be a creative solution for offshore wind.”

Meanwhile, the Port of Belledune in northern New Brunswick is touted as the choice for moving project cargo north, into the eastern Arctic as well as into Newfoundland and Labrador.

Belledune offers two facilities for breakbulk and project cargo, including the 455-meter (1,493-foot) Terminal 3, the 184-meter (604-foot) Terminal 4, and 24 hectares (60 acres) for laydown. It also offers a fabrication facility.

The Port of Halifax’s main breakbulk and project cargo facility, Richmond Terminals, has on-dock rail, a 1,400-linear-meter (4,500-linear-foot) berth, up to 14 meters (45 feet) of water, enhanced heavy-lift capabilities, and four warehouses. The facility is uncongested and is located between the two harbor bridges, offering easy highway access.

In 2021, the Halifax Port Authority facilities welcomed 553,809 tonnes of non-containerized cargo, registering a 43 percent increase over 2020 figures.

Lane Farguson, director of communications and marketing for the Port of Halifax, said the port’s specialized cargoes have included steel rails, steel coils for tire production, components from offshore oil decommissioning work, some lumber, fiber-optic cables and some heavy-lift. “While container cargo accounts for 90 percent of what we do, the non-containerized cargo is very important to the regional economy,” Farguson said to Breakbulk.

By nature, it is labor intensive – that is significant for the workforce. The cargo moved is also important to regional manufacturing.

Future breakbulk and project cargo volumes will be boosted by Canada’s interest in renewables, such as tidal and wind power, Farguson said. It is too soon to know whether the current oil and gas turmoil might trigger renewed interest in Canada’s offshore exploration, but to be prepared, the port is finalizing a 50-year master plan that outlines triggers that necessitate expansion.


The Seaway’s Opportunity Belt

Canada’s St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. jointly operates the 15-lock, 3,700-kilometer (2,300-mile) waterway with the U.S. Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. They have welcomed nearly 3 billion tonnes of cargo since 1959.

General cargo on the Seaway includes iron and steel, machinery, wind energy components, transformers, gas and electric turbines, and other products.

The Seaway is a green route; one ship moving 30,000 tons removes almost 1,000 trucks or 300 railcars from land routes.

If the Great Lakes region were a country, it would rank as the world’s fourth-largest economy, behind only the U.S., China and Japan, according to the Seaway’s economic impact study.

Quebec’s Port of Trois-Rivières is an eastern Seaway gateway and important economic development engine for regional industries including aluminum, forestry and agri-food. It moved 350,000 tonnes of general cargo including steel, bagged cocoa beans, pulp and aluminum ingots in 2021.

Steel has been the main source of breakbulk growth in the past few years. Anick Métivier, vice president of strategic development at the port, expects that growth to continue.

The port’s master plan, On Course for 2030, heralds a CDN$130 million, multi-cargo, three-berth Terminal 21 project with a 716-meter (2,349-foot) wharf. The port and its operators have invested in breakbulk facilities which now include three docks, three sheds totaling 17,700 square meters (191,000 square feet) and nearly 70,000 square meters (753,000 square feet) of outdoor storage space. Operators have also invested in handling equipment and in specialized workforce training.

The Port of Trois-Rivières, the City and Innovation et développement économique Trois-Rivières, in cooperation with the Québec government, are developing an “industrial port zone,” looking to build on the existing machining cluster and to create a transportation corridor for out-of-gauge/project cargo, according to Métivier.

The Port of Montreal is seeing growth in non-containerized general cargo volumes, which skyrocketed to more than 211,000 tonnes in 2021. Its breakbulk and heavy-lift facilities include those operated by Logistec Stevedoring at Laurier and Contrecoeur terminals, with tandem lift capacity up to 240 tonnes. Empire Stevedoring operates seven berths and three large sheds at Bickerdike.

The Port of Thunder Bay is inimitable in its position at the head of the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway System.

Built to get Canadian grain to European markets, it is also becoming a hub for dimensional cargo moving between Western Canada and international markets.

In 2021, the port handled 53,000 tonnes of breakbulk. It is projecting 70,000 tons in 2022 and 100,000 in 2023. “Steel product is particularly strong,” said Chris Heikkinen, director of business development and communication for the port.

General cargoes include structural steel from Europe, project components for Alberta’s oilsands, and wind energy components heading west – nacelles, blades and power segments.

“Western Canada is our niche. This year we have a number of wind projects already committed. Carriers like our available backhaul [bulk cargo] that helps introduce economies, and CN and CP’s exceptional rail clearances,” Heikkinen said to Breakbulk.

Main drivers for Thunder Bay cargo growth are western Canada’s transition to renewable energy and green projects, and the need to lower the supply chain’s carbon footprint. Using the port maximizes the marine transport leg of supply chains, which is important to the greening economy, Heikkinen said.

Thunder Bay’s uncongested facilities include the 32-hectare (79-acre) Keefer Terminal with on-dock rail and 50,000 square meters (550,000 square feet) of warehousing. The port reconfigured its general cargo terminal in a recent CDN$14 million investment, partly funded by the federal government and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund.

Ports on Canada’s east coast, seaway and west coast are expecting continued spikes in project cargo and breakbulk, as construction and renewable energy sectors continue to thrive.

Based in the U.S., Lori Musser is a veteran shipping industry writer.

Photo: Westfal-Larsen ship docked at Lynnterm Terminals in North Vancouver takes on pulp with Vancouver skyline in background. Credit: Vancouver Fraser Port Authority; Dave Roels Photography