Federal transport minister says Saint John port 'essential for Canada's prosperity'

The growth of Port Saint John is critical to meeting Prime Minister Mark Carney’s objective of greatly increasing trade outside the U.S., the federal trade minister said in a visit to Saint John on Tuesday to mark the completion of nearly $250 million of work to improve port infrastructure.

“It's a coastal port. It's the third largest port [in Canada] in terms of tonnage,” said Steven MacKinnon. “We cannot plausibly say we're going to double our non-U.S. trade without better links to the rest of the world. 

“Saint John offers so many key advantages. It's a year-round port … It's a place where we have a lot of new infrastructure … it is absolutely essential for Canada's prosperity that we keep these ports humming.”

As part of the west-side modernization project begun nearly a decade ago, the port has made a number of investments, including an additional berth, a deepened and widened channel, and enhanced storage and transportation capabilities. 

Port CEO Craig Bell Estabrooks said the modernization project is more than a decade in the making and has involved many governments of different political parties, so he was pleased to see members of past and present governments at Tuesday's event, including Premier Susan Holt and former premier Blaine Higgs.

“We’re tremendously proud to be celebrating the completion of the [project], the momentum it’s created for our gateway, and the hundreds of people working on our waterfront because of it,” said Estabrooks said.

It will also soon have a 190,000-square-foot cold-storage facility, which is now under construction.

MacKinnon says the facility, which will allow the port to store products before they’re loaded onto container ships, is of national importance.

“It's business not going to the United States,'" he said.

"It helps New Brunswick with its frozen food and refrigerated food exports. But it [also] helps Canada in its food security because it helps to be an import facility for fresh and frozen produce and other products as well … This is business that generally goes to the East Coast U.S. ports.”

The port has partnered with Americold, which owns or operates 239 cold-storage facilities worldwide, to build the $80-million facility on the city's west side that will be operational sometime this year.

MacKinnon said the federal government will continue to work with the city and the provincial government to improve the city's shipping infrastructure.

This includes a plan to address traffic issues at Simms Corner on the city's west side, which will only get worse with the expected increase of trucks and trains coming to and from the port.

Calling it a “matter of national importance,” MacKinnon said the project is part of a shipping corridor and will make things easier for trucks, trains, cars and pedestrians that have to navigate a busy, and often chaotic major intersection.