Shipping firm doubles service to Port of Montreal
Buoyed by increasing trade volumes, the world’s largest shipping company is doubling its service to the Port of Montreal.
Maersk Line announced on Wednesday that it plans to add a weekly service connecting Montreal with ports in the Mediterranean.
The shipping line currently has a weekly service that connects Montreal with ports in northern Europe.
“With the favourable pro-trade environment in Canada, we’ve seen healthy growth rates for Canada’s trade overall. Last year, we saw levels around seven per cent for imports and exports,” said Jack Mahoney, president of Maersk Line Canada.
Trade between Canada and Europe, in particular, is growing because of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), he said.
“CETA took the tariffs away from nearly everything, 98 per cent of goods, as of Sept. 21 last year. We see that supporting the growth in volumes between Canada and northern Europe and we expect to see a similar thing in the Mediterranean trade,” Mahoney said.
While he expects a wide variety of goods to be shipped through the new service, he said agricultural products like peas, beans and lentils, as well as automotive products, will be a big part of the cargo shipped.
Ships leaving Montreal will also stop in Halifax, where they will pick up perishable goods like fish, seafood, pork and beef, he said.
Imports will include finished goods, food and beverages, furniture, tile and stone, Mahoney said.
The first ship to sail the route is scheduled to leave Salerno, Italy, on July 1. It’s expected to arrive in Montreal on July 19. The service will also include stops at ports in France and Spain — that includes stops at large transhipment hubs that connect to the Middle East, India, Pakistan, Asia and Africa, Mahoney said.
Montreal was chosen, in part, because of its access to markets in Quebec and, through rail, Ontario.
“We’re delivering the import cargo to where a large portion of it would be consumed,” he said.
The Montreal Port Authority is already seeing an increase in European trade.
“We’re up eight per cent in trade between the Port of Montreal and Europe” over the last year, said Tony Boemi, the authority’s vicepresident for growth and development. That’s rare for developed markets like Europe.
The increased service is “really good news for us,” he said. “It validates the importance of Montreal as a container port.”
It comes as Quebec exports, in particular, are growing.
Only Newfoundland and Labrador are expected to see more export growth this year, said Peter Hall, chief economist at Export Development Canada.
While he’s hearing more talk about increased European trade because of CETA, he’s not seeing it in the data.
“It’s a bit early to tell. There are some things that are still being worked out on the agricultural side of things. So, tariffs come down, but there are country-of-origin labelling issues and other sorts of non-tariff issues that we are still trying to work out with the Europeans,” he said.
However, he said, that could change.
While Canadian trade is doing well despite NAFTA concerns, exporters are hesitating when it comes to investing in expansions.
“If there’s anything that’s being affected by the uncertainty engendered by the protectionist rhetoric, either on specific industry elements or on the deal itself, it’s investment. Investment commitments just aren’t high at the moment,” he said. “That really is a threat to the future.”
Hall, who will be speaking in Montreal on Thursday about exports, said he expects Quebec’s exports to grow eight per cent over the coming year.
That’s “really being driven by the success of the CSeries. We believe that the sales are going to come through,” he said. The wood products sector and mining are also doing well, Hall said.