Welcoming growth

Handling 1.75 million TEUs in 2019 brought the Port of Montreal close to its maximum land-based container transshipment capacity. To keep playing its role as a hub for international trade and an open door for companies from around the world, the Port of Montreal has been investing in its infrastructure. Whether to optimize and improve its existing infrastructures, some of which date back more than a century, or to launch major expansion projects, 2019 was a crucial year. 

Viau Terminal: launch of a second phase of project works

To increase the land-based container handling capacity on the island of Montreal in the short term, the MPA announced, in collaboration with Termont, the launch of a second phase of work to complete Viau Terminal, which was inaugurated in 2016. 

This phase will add 250,000 TEUs to Viau Terminal’s current container-handling capacity of 350,000 TEUs for a total capacity at term of 600,000 TEUs.  

At a total cost of $197 million, this project will ultimately generate $340 million in economic benefits and 2,500 direct and indirect jobs. Commissioning is scheduled for the end of 2020.

Contrecœur Terminal

In 2019, the Port of Montreal’s major expansion project in Contrecœur reached a milestone. On December 4, 2019, the Canada Infrastructure Bank announced that it would commit up to $300 million in funding for the Port of Montreal project. This financial support provides the MPA with an essential guarantee to attract private investors. By enabling the Port of Montreal to handle an additional 1.15 million TEUs containers once completed, Contrecœur Terminal will promote positive economic benefits on a regional and national scale, strengthen the commercial attractiveness of Quebec and Eastern Canada, and help improve productivity for the benefit of clients, consumers and businesses. 

On the strength of this crucial support, the container terminal project took other decisive steps toward its achievement. Throughout 2019, logistics partnerships were developed, negotiations were conducted with terminal operators, progress was made in design and concept development, the procurement process was developed, and the environmental process was progressively advanced. Commissioning of the new terminal is scheduled for 2024. 

Redevelopment of Bickerdike Terminal

Rehabilitation work on Bickerdike Terminal, one of the oldest port terminals in Montreal, got underway in 2019. The objective of this investment, estimated at $25 million, is to ensure better fluidity and greater safety for truck access, and to renovate and redevelop the buildings, storage facilities and handling areas.