VANCOUVER, B.C. — The Port of Vancouver continued its strong growth in cargo volumes last year, with total shipments rising six per cent to 66.7 million tonnes and container shipments rising to an all-time high of 1.54 million TEUs.

“The resurgence in our bulk shipments of products like coal, grain, wood pulp and potash are indicative of increasing demand for our products and a strengthening Western Canadian economy, and we’re more than pleased to have helped facilitate the strengthening of those vital sectors,” said Captain Gordon Houston, Vancouver Port Authority president and CEO.

There is remarkable and ongoing growth of our containerized trade with Pacific Rim nations like China, Japan, and South Korea, and container volumes on the Pacific coast of North America are expected to more than double over the next 15 years. The Port of Vancouver and other B.C. ports are ideally located to capture a dominant share of that business.

Houston said a global trend toward the containerization of cargo and the rapid expansion of North American trade with Asian nations – particularly China – has created an enormous growth opportunity for B.C. ports. He noted that the Port of Vancouver is currently developing new terminal capacity to capture its share of a projected six million TEUs of container traffic that B.C. ports could experience by 2020.

“I believe that transportation will be the next great growth industry in this province,” he said. “But if B.C. is going to capture its share of the burgeoning Pacific Rim bulk, breakbulk and container markets and become a global hub for North American trade, we’re going to have to work together with government, communities and other ports to develop the business strategies, the infrastructure, the support industries and legislative changes we need to be successful.”