Montreal – cargo up containers down

News 9 Jan 2017 by WCN Editorial

Total cargo throughput was up 10% at Montreal in 2016, but container throughput was down slightly.

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2016 was a mixed year for the Port of Montreal. “According to preliminary statistics, the Port of Montreal handled 35.2 million tonnes of freight in 2016. This unaudited figure is higher than last year's traffic results. In fact, it corresponds to an increase of more than 10% in freight traffic. It is also a historic record for the Port of Montreal,” the Montreal Port Authority (MPA) said in a statement.

As measured by cargo sector, however, the only categories to grow in 2016 were liquid bulk cargo, which surged 40.4% to 12.4 Mt, and dry bulks, up 0.3% to 5.5 Mt, reported statistics for the 11 months to December 2016 show. Over the same period non-containerised general cargo tonnage dropped 37.6% to 6.1 Mt.

In the container sector Montreal had a steady year, with container numbers reaching 1.3 M TEU in the first 11 months of 2016. This is down 0.7% on 2015, which was a record year for the port.

On 4 January 2017 MPA President and CEO Sylvie Vachon presented the port’s traditional Gold-Headed Cane to Shipping Agent Denis Blondeau of SMK Tanker Agency, who accepted it on behalf of South Korean national Captain Danel Ju, master of the CHEM SIRIUS, the first ocean-going vessel to enter the Port of Montreal without a stopover in 2017. Captain Ju becomes the 178th person to receive the Gold-Headed Cane.