We can’t diversify our trade with uncompetitive ports
Canadians have long viewed their country as a trading nation. With a small domestic market and abundant natural resources, Canada’s economic health relies on its capacity to move goods efficiently through international markets. In 2023, nearly two-thirds of the country’s economy was tied to international trade.
When goods move efficiently across borders, Canadians benefit through greater investment and higher wages.
Today, amid growing trade tensions with the United States, Ottawa is looking to diversify our exports and reduce our reliance on a single market. Yet, Canadian ports, despite their importance, are falling behind their international counterparts, undermining Canadian competitiveness.
This should be of grave concern to governments, producers, and consumers alike.
Close to $400 million of goods pass through the port of Montreal daily, and over $800 million leave the port of Vancouver. When these ports get bogged down, the consequences ripple across the economy.
The World Bank ranks 405 ports of all sizes around the world. In 2024, among Canadian ports, only Halifax made the top 100. Canada’s largest trade gateways performed far worse: Montreal ranked 344th, while Vancouver ranked 389th. Prince Rupert, a critical gateway to Asian markets, also ranked near the bottom of its category, placing it 362nd.
Such rankings should be setting off alarm bells. Our claim to being a trading nation is suspect while we tolerate ports that rank among the least efficient in the industrialized world.
Port productivity matters. It directly affects shipping costs, delivery times, and supply chain reliability.
At the Port of Vancouver, containers reportedly sat in terminals for 4 to 7 days during peak congestion periods in 2025. When containers remain stuck at port, importers and exporters face higher storage costs, which are ultimately reflected in higher prices for consumers.
In other words, inefficient ports don’t just hurt shipping companies; they hurt the entire country.
At a time of weak productivity growth and high trade uncertainty, improving the efficiency and reliability of critical infrastructure is an economic necessity.
Why are we lagging behind? While many of the world’s leading ports have modernized and embraced automation, Canada’s have failed to keep up.
Singapore’s Tuas Port, the world’s first fully automated port, ranked 29th globally and handled 40.9 million containers a year.
Canada, meanwhile, remains stuck in recurring labour disputes and political hesitation over the issue of modernization.
Over the past several years, ports in Montreal, Vancouver, and Halifax have experienced strikes, lockouts, and disruptions. In 2023, labour disputes at the ports of Vancouver and Montreal affected more than $1.2 billion worth of goods daily.
Logistics companies value reliability. Instead, Canadian ports provide uncertainty. If we don’t change course, investment will continue to shift elsewhere.
Policymakers regularly speak about the need to diversify trade and strengthen Canada’s economic resilience. Yet, instead of encouraging greater flexibility, Ottawa is moving in the opposite direction.
Bill C-58, which came into force in 2025, prohibits federally regulated employers from using replacement workers during legal strikes or lockouts.
In a sector as strategic as ports, prolonged disruptions extend far beyond labour negotiations. Business groups warned that this legislation could worsen Canada’s already weak productivity performance and damage the country’s international reputation as a reliable trading partner.
With this change, federal policy is no longer neutral in how port disruptions play out. Given unions’ increased power, there is now a greater likelihood that negotiations will result in longer and more costly interruptions to trade flows.
The government cannot credibly claim to support supply chain resilience and economic competitiveness while adopting policies that risk prolonging disruptions at ports and discouraging modernization.
Automation is not our enemy; economic stagnation is.
If Canadian ports continue to fall behind, supply chains will be less efficient, less investment will come to Canada, and economic opportunities will dwindle. Protecting today’s inefficiencies will undermine tomorrow’s prosperity.
At a time of weak productivity growth and trade uncertainty, improving the efficiency and reliability of critical infrastructure is an economic necessity. The world’s leading ports are investing, automating, and modernizing. If we fail to do the same, we risk falling even further behind in the global race for trade and investment.
Gabriel Giguère is a Senior Policy Analyst at the MEI. The views reflected in this opinion piece are his own.