Blog — 21 May, 2026
Eroding connections expose Canada’s ports, shippers: central bank
Canada’s ports are less connected globally than a decade ago, exposing the country’s shippers to more supply chain risk, its central bank says. The warning comes as the country pivots its trade relations away from the US amid plans to invest billions in its ports.
The Bank of Canada (BOC), in a research report published last week, showed that the country’s five largest ports have seen major declines in their connections to other global ports since 2016. The researchers used satellite data of container ship and car carrier transits to measure the number of unique destinations.
That connectivity measure dropped 74% between 2016 and 2023, indicating “Canadian ports became relatively less central in global shipping networks compared with what they once were,” the BOC’s researchers said.
“Global maritime shipping networks have been reshaped in ways that have reduced Canada’s relative connectivity and carrying capacity,” the bank said. “This less-central role for the country could mean greater exposure to supply chain disruptions that could increase the cost of doing business.”
The report was released as BOC Governor Tiff Macklem testified before a Canadian Senate banking committee last Wednesday. He said the country needs to invest more in its transportation infrastructure, citing the ability of Southern California ports to handle much larger vessels than those calling Canada.
The Bank of Canada researchers said some of the country’s declining port connectivity may stem from fewer, larger container ships than those measured in 2016. More of those larger ships, though, head to US West Coast ports, with imports into Canada having to absorb the extra cost of surface transportation from Southern California.
“Many imports coming on larger ships from southeast Asia, for example, must first travel to and be processed through the Port of Los Angeles before being shipped to Canada by train or truck,” the BOC report said.
The Port of Vancouver only sees about half or fewer of the large container ships on the trans-Pacific than the Southern California ports, according to data from Sea-web, a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global.
In the last 12 months, ships over 11,000 TEUs in capacity made 410 calls to the Port of Los Angeles and 308 calls to Long Beach, Sea-web data shows. Vancouver saw 143 such calls over the same time.
Multiple projects planned
Canada’s government wants to reduce that dependency on Southern California ports, along with the US overall as a trading partner. Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged some C$5 billion in federal funding for trade infrastructure projects, including ports.
The biggest pieces of that will be the Contrecoeur marine terminal at the Port of Montreal, which has started initial work on the C$1.6 billion project. Quebec may become home to another marine terminal after local operator QSL received preliminary approval from Canada’s customs agency for receiving international freight at the proposed site at Quebec City.
DP World Canada has also unveiled a new ultra-large container ship berth at its Port Saint John terminal. On the country’s West Coast, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and Global Container Terminals have pledged to work together on studying development of the proposed 2.4 million-TEU Roberts Bank marine terminal.
Outside of infrastructure, Canada also wants to turn the tide on the longshore labor disruption that has plagued its ports. Canada’s parliament could take up negotiations in the coming weeks on how to reform the country’s labor laws. Changes to those laws could come ahead of the 2027 expiration of the longshore labor contract at Vancouver.
This article was originally published in the Journal of Commerce on May 13, 2026.
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