Canada and the World

        Current Events with a Canadian Perspective

Last update

19 November 2010

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Canada’s International

Trade Flows

As one of the world’s greatest trading nations, Canada depends heavily on one customer - the United States

Nearly four million TEUs were handled at six mainland ports in Canada in 2004, three quarters of which flowed through the ports of Vancouver, Montreal, and Halifax. The rest were handled at the ports of Fraser River, Saint John, Toronto, and Prince Rupert.

According to 2006 data:

• The top six border crossings — Windsor, Fort Erie, and Queenston Sarnia in Ontario, Lacolle in Quebec, and Pacific Highway in British Columbia — together handled around 73 percent of total truck traffic by value;
• The Windsor-Detroit corridor is Canada’s busiest artery of trade. With the area handling almost 30 percent of total Canada-U.S. trade and more than 2.5 million trucks;
• With over $1.9 billion worth of goods and services moving across the border daily, Canada and the U.S. are each other’s largest customers and biggest suppliers: in 2006, Canada exchanged more goods with the U.S. each month than with any other country throughout the whole year;
• Canada’s west coast ports handled almost 75 percent of our export trade (value) to Asia;
• The Port of Vancouver is Canada’s busiest, handling about half of the total containers to go through Canadian ports — more than 2.2 million containers (twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs). The ports of Montreal and Halifax handled 1.3 million and 0.5 million TEUs, respectively, with all other ports handling a further 0.4 million TEUs;
• More than 75 percent of container traffic through the Port of Halifax is delivered by rail to central Canada and the U.S;
• Toronto’s Pearson International Airport is Canada’s busiest, handling around 50 percent (value) of international air cargo and 45 percent of total international passenger traffic;
• The Ontario-Quebec Continental Gateway and Trade Corridor encompasses a system of land, air, and marine transportation, including the Saint Lawrence River and Great Lakes for international trade. The two central Canadian provinces represent approximately 60 percent of Canada’s exports and gross domestic product; and,
• Building Canada, the federal government’s long-term infrastructure plan, includes a new national fund for gateways and border crossings, with $2.1 billion over seven years.

© Canada and the World, October 2008

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The capacity of containers is measured in twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs.