Port of Montreal bets on rising India-Canada trade

The Port of Montreal, which has entered into a partnership with Mundra Port, is betting on an increase in trade between Canada and India.

The Canadian port is keen on working with other ports in India even though it has limited its number of agreements in India, said Tony Boemi, Vice President, Growth and Development at Montreal Port Authority (MPA).

“We saw the partnership with Adani Group (for Mundra Port) will be appropriate for us to carry out our Indian businesses. It will further increase the trade between Port of Montreal and Asian countries,” he said.

In 2016-17, the Port of Montreal saw a 40 per cent growth in trade between India and Canada.

Boemi added that through the network with Mundra, the Port of Montreal is looking at expanding its presence in South Asia. “About 10 years ago, the Port of Montreal had no presence in Asia that has changed now,” Boemi said, adding 25 per cent of the port’s overall business comes from Asia.

“Out of that 40 per cent is with India and 60 per cent is with China. We hope the partnership with Mundra will go beyond 40 per cent.”

Apart from foodgrains, there are many other sectors that are doing well in terms of trade between the countries.

“In terms of import to Canada, we have seen growth coming from the manufacturing sector. Canada’s exports are driven by raw materials for industries like paper, steel, iron, fishery, other agricultural produce etc.”

When asked about the decline in Canada’s foodgrain exports to India due to weak demand and levy, Boemi said, “We are aware that there are additional regulation in India over foodgrain. So, we know foodgrain will not grow as much as it did in the past few years.”

The port has made sure that it could balance its growth with other goods.

Port of Montreal has been growing at 3-4 per cent annually and hopes to continue at that pace. Commenting about other emerging markets like Latin America, he added that the port has seen 7 per cent growth in this market. Canada, which has free trade agreement with the US, is expecting the trade between the countries to grow. Commenting about restrictions followed by countries, he said, “We look for other opportunities if countries impose more restrictions.”

The port has invested C$78 million in their new cruise terminal and is looking at attracting more tourists and cruise lines to the port.

Talking about partnership for tourism, Boemi said, at present, the port is not doing any business with other ports in India.

“But we will look at partnerships in India. We had to start somewhere. The present partnership will help us know our possibilities and challenges in the country.”

MPA is also looking at expanding its Contrecoeur Port Terminal. At present, it is awaiting environmental clearance and is constantly engaging with environmentalists. This container terminal will be capable of handling 1.15 million containers. When asked about the impact of environmental clearance hurdle would have in the business, Boemi added, “Such concerns do slow down the expansion plans and you come with alternative plan that does not impact the project.” At present, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency is studying the public comment on this matter.