The Hapag-Lloyd vessel Detroit Express carrying international containers bound for locations across North America sits at Port Saint John. (Image: Port Saint John/Twitter)
Port Saint John’s CEO says 2020 was a successful year, despite challenges created by the pandemic.
Revenue fell by more than 30 per cent to $16.5 million as the cruise ship industry came to a standstill last year.
According to the port’s annual report, it was the first year since 1988 that Saint John did not have any cruise visits.
But Jim Quinn said the port was also able to reduce costs, allowing it to keep a full workforce and forge ahead with projects.
“The pandemic certainly produced some challenges for Port Saint John. I think that we responded well. I think that we practiced prudent financial management,” Quinn said in a phone interview Monday.
While revenue was down due to the pandemic, the amount of cargo moving through the port was not.
Overall cargo tonnage at Port Saint John was up two per cent to nearly 26-million metric tonnes (MT).
The container sector saw a third consecutive year of growth under operator DP World, which has been working to build back container business since Tropical Shipping shifted to Halifax in 2017. TEUs — also known as twenty-foot equivalent units — increased 15 per cent to 79,179 while overall tonnage was up 19 per cent to 580,279 MT.
Quinn credited a couple of key factors for the continued success in the container sector.
“We’ve been partnered with DP World now for the last four years, and in 2020, CP Rail came heavily on scene and they, together with DP World and the port, worked very, very hard at attracting new customers,” he said.
That hard work appears to be paying off with Hapag-Lloyd beginning weekly service to the port from the Mediterranean last week.
Canadian Pacific, which recently extended its long-term rail service agreement with Hapag-Lloyd through 2025, regained access to Port Saint John in 2020 after acquiring the Central Maine & Quebec Railway and through connections with the New Brunswick Southern and Eastern Maine railways.
“It’s just an indication of the great strengths that CP and DP World have with us,” said Quinn, noting that he expects another significant increase in container traffic this year.
Container traffic was not the only area of significant growth for Port Saint John in 2020. Dry bulk cargo was up 31 per cent — from 649,272 MT in 2019 to 854,243 in 2020 — driven primarily by Saskatchewan-mined Nutrien potash.
Liquid bulk held steady in 2020, accounting for more than 94 per cent of all cargoes moving through Port Saint John. The break bulk sector, which represents only 0.01 per cent of all cargoes, is the only sector that experienced a decrease, dropping from 7,209 MT tonnes in 2019 to 2,935 MT in 2020.
Quinn said he believes is on the cusp of a significant economic turnaround, noting the $205-million modernization project on the port’s west side is now more than halfway completed.
The project includes the consolidation of the Rodney and Navy Island terminals for a longer pier, a terminal upgrade and a deeper shipping channel. The upgrades will double the port’s container capacity, deepen quayside draft and provide additional on-dock rail capacity.
Quinn said the port has applied to the federal and provincial governments for an enhancement to the project.
“We’re gonna be talking about that at our virtual Port Day on June 8th and we’re gonna be talking about the economic impact analysis that we’ve had done that has some very promising and significant numbers for our community and for our province,” he said.
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