The Use of Containers in Canada Prepared For Transport Canada Prepared By MariNova Consulting Ltd. & Partners December 2006 Use of Containers in Canada—T8080-06-0175 i Table of Contents List of Tables......................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ....................................................................................................... iii Executive Summary................................................................................................ v 1.0 Introduction.....................................................................................................1 1.1 This Report ................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Stakeholder Consultations ......................................................................................... 2 1.3 Structure of the Report ............................................................................................... 2 2.0 Background.....................................................................................................3 3.0 Containerization..............................................................................................5 3.1 The Global Container Industry ................................................................................... 5 3.2 Future Developments ................................................................................................. 9 3.3 The Canadian Context ............................................................................................. 12 4.0 State of Play—Ports and Terminals.............................................................17 4.1 Vancouver ................................................................................................................ 17 4.1.1 Port of Vancouver.................................................................................................... 17 4.1.2 Terminals................................................................................................................. 21 4.1.3 Rail intermodal terminals......................................................................................... 23 4.2 Fraser River.............................................................................................................. 25 4.2.1 Fraser-Surrey .......................................................................................................... 25 4.2.2 Coast 2000.............................................................................................................. 25 4.2.3 Prince Rupert .......................................................................................................... 25 4.3 Montreal.................................................................................................................... 26 4.3.1 Port of Montreal....................................................................................................... 26 4.3.2 Montreal terminals................................................................................................... 29 4.4 Halifax....................................................................................................................... 30 4.4.1 Port of Halifax.......................................................................................................... 30 4.4.2 Halifax terminals ...................................................................................................... 34 4.5 Saint John................................................................................................................. 35 4.5.1 Port of Saint John .................................................................................................... 35 4.5.2 New Brunswick terminals ........................................................................................ 37 4.6 Newfoundland........................................................................................................... 37 4.6.1 Ports of St. John’s and Corner Brook ...................................................................... 37 4.6.2 Newfoundland terminals .......................................................................................... 37 5.0 State of Play—Railways and Trucking ........................................................39 5.1 Railway Network and Intermodal Terminals in Canada ........................................... 39 5.1.1 Lines of business..................................................................................................... 39 5.1.2 Intermodal networks ................................................................................................ 39 5.2 Operations................................................................................................................ 41 5.2.1 Modal balance ......................................................................................................... 41 5.2.2 Railway terminals .................................................................................................... 41 5.2.3 Railway lines ........................................................................................................... 43 5.3 Container Traffic Flows ............................................................................................ 44 5.3.1 General.................................................................................................................... 44 5.3.2 Import loads............................................................................................................. 45 5.3.3 Export loads ............................................................................................................ 47 5.4 Railway Business Environment ................................................................................ 53 5.5 Empty Container Storage ......................................................................................... 53 5.6 Empty Container Railway Linehaul .......................................................................... 53 5.7 Loaded Container Linehaul ...................................................................................... 54 5.8 Container Ownership................................................................................................ 54 5.9 Capital Requirements for Railway Terminals ........................................................... 56 December 2006 Use of Containers in Canada—T8080-06-0175 ii 5.9.1 Loaded container storage........................................................................................ 56 5.9.2 Empty container storage.......................................................................................... 57 5.10 Terminal Logistics .................................................................................................... 57 5.11 Trucking.................................................................................................................... 58 5.11.1 Cross border container trucking .............................................................................. 59 5.11.2 Trucking in the container logistics system ............................................................... 61 6.0 State of Play—Regional Perspective...........................................................62 6.1 West Coast............................................................................................................... 62 6.2 Empty Containers ..................................................................................................... 62 6.3 Prairies ..................................................................................................................... 65 6.3.1 Alberta ..................................................................................................................... 66 6.3.2 Saskatchewan ......................................................................................................... 67 6.3.3 Manitoba.................................................................................................................. 69 6.3.4 Future container utilization on the Prairies .............................................................. 71 6.4 Central Canada ........................................................................................................ 73 6.4.1 Distribution centres.................................................................................................. 73 6.5 Atlantic Canada ........................................................................................................ 74 6.6 Interviewees’ Perspectives....................................................................................... 76 6.6.1 Shippers and shipping lines..................................................................................... 76 6.6.2 Retailers .................................................................................................................. 78 7.0 Key Issues.....................................................................................................79 7.1 Commercial Issues................................................................................................... 79 7.1.1 Rates ....................................................................................................................... 79 7.1.2 Timing...................................................................................................................... 80 7.1.3 Container