Calgary & Alberta Economy

[Albertasaurus]

Would Quebec City make more sense from the perspective of being able to handle those larger containerships? I would think so since they can accommodate big cruise ships. Would seem to somewhat solve the problem of Halifax (isolation) since it's only a couple hours east of Montreal and thus, still quite proximate to the big Canadian markets (and also much closer to US ones).

 

[InfrastructureEnthusiast]

Canada will update AI strategy a year ahead of schedule: Evan Solomon | BetaKit

Canada's AI minister says the country "can't afford to wait," as the government assembles as AI strategy task force.

betakit.com

While I still see some wisdom in bringing some grid-neutral data centers to market, it's probably best to leave the AI chase to someone else's money...

 

[InfrastructureEnthusiast]

Why is Montreal Port expansion on the projects list?

Montreal port faces bigger problem than $2.3 billion expansion can solve, says maritime expert

Montreal port risks losing ground to U.S. ports despite $2.3 billion terminal expansion because St. Lawrence channel is too shallow. Read on

financialpost.com

My current hypothesis is that too much communistic indoctrination has left a number of people thinking that geographic limitations are not real, 'equity' means any city can be anything it wants to be!

Even Vancouver has to dredge to be able to fill tankers full ffs, Montreal is never going to have the same capabilities as a proper ocean port city.

But their projects keep getting funded, so I'm guessing there may be a lot of political kompromat held by local business leaders that keeps thing the way they are..

As to what Canada's ports might be best used for, I found this infograph enlightening!

 

[DougB]

Dredging Burrard Inlet should be much easier to miantain than doing so for the St Lawrence as I suspect the sediment load to be much less.

The St. Lawrence Seaway has never lived up to traffic projections and seems to be declining.

The dream of significantly greater European trade will remain forever a leftist fantasy. Besides slow growth, Europe is not a great market for anything other than raw materials. It suffers declining competitiveness for manufactured good, so why would it import from another uncompetitive manufacturing nation like Canada? The resources for which it would have greatest demand would be those historically provided by Russia: oil, natural gas and grain. Unfortunately all of those are located geographically and politically on the wrong side of Canada. The US is much better prepared to replace Russia as it produces those resources on the Atlantic Basin. Economics also wins, so the notion that Europe would prefer trade with Canada as Trump offends its sensibilities is nonsense. The inconvenient truth is that Canada's future lies with Asia in spite of Laurentian preference.

What about the Port of St. John. Does it have the road and rail connections to pick up traffic from Montreal and Quebec City?

 

[darwink]

Would Quebec City make more sense from the perspective of being able to handle those larger containerships? I would think so since they can accommodate big cruise ships. Would seem to somewhat solve the problem of Halifax (isolation) since it's only a couple hours east of Montreal and thus, still quite proximate to the big Canadian markets (and also much closer to US ones).

Found an interesting article from a few years back on factors that inform decisions on which to go forward with. There is no best option, all have their own issues.

Graphic from the article:

The Pressure for Scale: A New Dynamic for Canadian East Coast Container Ports?

Summary of a presentation made at the Journal of Commerce Canada Trade Conference, Toronto, June 19 2018. A Balancing Act Between Hinterland and Foreland Connectivity The introduction of larger containerships on transatlantic and Panama Canal services has placed the Canadian East Coast in a state of

www.linkedin.com

 

[InfrastructureEnthusiast]

What about the Port of St. John. Does it have the road and rail connections to pick up traffic from Montreal and Quebec City?

Personally I'd prefer to see St John get back into the shipbuilding game rather than see it become a container port.

The dry dock there is one of two in Canada big enough to build larger ships, iirc large enough for something the Spanish heli-carriers, which would be an enormous capability boost for the RCN, and if done right would add a huge amount of full time employment for the region with perpetual construction and maintenance programs.

 

[InfrastructureEnthusiast]

Found an interesting article from a few years back on factors that inform decisions on which to go forward with. There is no best option, all have their own issues.

Graphic from the article:
View attachment 683734

The Pressure for Scale: A New Dynamic for Canadian East Coast Container Ports?

Summary of a presentation made at the Journal of Commerce Canada Trade Conference, Toronto, June 19 2018. A Balancing Act Between Hinterland and Foreland Connectivity The introduction of larger containerships on transatlantic and Panama Canal services has placed the Canadian East Coast in a state of

www.linkedin.com

Sounds about right, although at this point it sort of seems like trying to decide where the best part of town to open a video rental store would be, the first question should have been: why?

Interesting that these articles keep mentioning the proximity of Montreal to the US Midwest. Almost sounds like this nation building project is mostly happening to send metal boxes from an ocean border to a land border, with little gain in between.

Though to be fair, I don't recall the feds saying *which* nation they were building with these projects...

 

[darwink]

Almost sounds like this nation building project is mostly happening to send metal boxes from an ocean border to a land border, with little gain in between.

Canada does a lot of this. Prince Rupert dispatches trains that don't stop at a Canadian terminal. Roberts' Bank ships out american coal. American oil goes to New Brunswick and then the gasoline goes down the eastern seaboard.

It gives us scale that reduces costs for moving our stuff, and supplying ourselves.

 

[Chowda7]

Port of Vancouver moves record amount of cargo first 6 months of this year | Globalnews.ca

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority says 13 per cent more cargo moved through Canada's biggest port during the first six months of the year than during the same period of 2024.

globalnews.ca