Vancouver keeping the balance
The Port of Vancouver’s cargo throughput showed a moderate increase of 1% from 145 t in 2020 to 146 million t in 2021. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority thus stood the test of the ongoing pandemic and extreme weather events last year.
Over the year, a peak in container and foreign bulk volumes, as well as strong grain volumes in H1/2021 helped maintain the level of cargo volumes passing through the port. The number of boxes moved through the port reached 3.7 million teu in 2021, an uptick of 6% compared to the previous year and an all-time high.
Robin Silvester, president and CEO of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority: “The 2021 container story, while a record for the fifth year in a row, is a warning on two fronts: a looming container capacity shortage and the Lower Mainland’s industrial land shortage crisis.”
Nevertheless, grain volumes declined by 13% in 2021 compared to 2020 after a drought in Western Canada. The port authority has been pushing the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project, a proposed container terminal in Delta, BC, with a planned annual capacity of 2.4 million teu.