Investments made by the Government of Canada and the Montréal Port Authority to enhance the Port of Montréal’s infrastructure will make the global movement of goods more fluid, create direct and indirect jobs in transportation systems across the country, contribute to national prosperity and help grow the middle class.

Marc Garneau, Canada’s Minister of Transport and Sylvie Vachon, president and CEO of the Montréal Port Authority were among those on hand to celebrate the inauguration of the new container terminal in the Viau sector in November.

“The Government of Canada recognizes that port infrastructure plays a key role in supporting economic growth,” said Garneau. “In addition to making the Port of Montréal considerably more competitive, productive and effective, this project will also help to support economic growth for Canadians in the years to come.”

The new container terminal will boost the Port of Montréal’s handling capacity by 450,000 TEUs. The new terminal, together with the work done previously and the second phase of work to be completed in the years to come, will bring the total handling capacity in the Viau sector to 600 000 TEUs, and the Port of Montréal’s overall handling capacity to 2.1 million TEUs.

The construction of the new terminal is part of a broader port capacity optimization project covering three essential areas: the terminal’s container-handling capacity, marine access, and road access. The plan to have the Port of Montréal be active on all three fronts to establish the right balance between facilitating traffic and ensuring that activities continue to run smoothly.

The Government of Canada is contributing one-third of the eligible funding for all three project components to a maximum of $43,666,667 under the National Infrastructure Component of the New Building Canada Fund. Of this amount, up to $27.2 million is available to fund the new container terminal. The remainder of the funding will be attributed to the project’s other two components.

The Port of Montréal is the second-largest container port in Canada and the fifth largest on the east coast of North America. One in four shipping containers handled in Canada passes through the port.