Benefits and traffic
After a year marked by several crises in 2021, globally with the impact of the pandemic on international trade as well as locally with the dockworkers' strike, cargo volumes handled at the Port of Montreal dipped 3% from 2020, putting the total volume of goods handled at 34 million tonnes.
It should be noted that import volumes rose 4%, while export volumes dropped 10.5%. The Port of Montreal’s commercial relations with Asia grow to account for 27% of its cargo volumes handled, largely through transshipment in the Mediterranean. Changing consumer habits, including a significant increase in online orders for consumer products mainly produced in Asia, had an impact on these figures.
Containers
Despite the dockworkers’ strike in the spring of 2021, which badly curbed business, the container sector recovered right from the start of summer on, growing 7.5% over the course of the year in terms of the number of TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). In total, 1.7 million containers were handled at our facilities. In terms of tonnage, volumes remained stable at 14.2 million tonnes.
Textile products, building materials, vehicles and accessories, and containerized metal products were among the commodities that posted the largest increases.
Non-containerized cargo
With 211,000 tonnes of non-containerized cargo were handled at the Port of Montreal in 2021, the upswing over 2020 was a whopping 229%, notably due to increases in steel products, ro-ro traffic and various metal products.
Dry bulk
The dry bulk sector fell 6.2% to 7.9 million tonnes, as droughts in Western Canada affected grain volumes.
However, it should be noted that the volumes handled of ores rose sharply, as did fertilizers for the agri-food sector.
Liquid bulk
Due to the pandemic that continued into 2021, the liquid bulk sector dropped 5.2% to 11.7 million tonnes.
Declines included fuel volumes for personal vehicles and air traffic.
Cruises
For a second consecutive year, there was no cruise season in 2021 at the Port of Montreal.
However, following the federal government's decision in November 2021 to allow cruises to resume, MPA teams remained readt to prepare for the return of cruises in a post-pandemic global context.
To this end, throughout the year, the MPA actively participated in many committees, including both the ACPA and AAPA cruise committees, while preparing its facilities for the safe return of ships and passengers in 2022.