As Canadian shoppers tighten their belts, Vancouver port shipments plummet

The number of shipping containers passing through Canada's largest port fell sharply in the first half of the year, driven down by weaker consumer demand and a sputtering economy.

Container volumes at the Port of Vancouver fell 14 per cent in the first six months of 2023 compared with the same period a year earlier, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority said Monday.

In a phone interview, interim CEO Victor Pang said the figures reflected a stalling economy, which contracted slightly in the second quarter.

"There's some economic softness, overall and for Canada. And you're seeing that through our container numbers,'' Pang said, noting that the decline was not unique to Canadian ports.

Consumer goods volumes fell 12 per cent year over year, a decrease driven mainly by lower demand but also overstocked inventories, he added.

Shipments of construction materials and auto parts also slumped, while movement of finished vehicles revved up as supply chain kinks smoothed out.

Grain exports roughly doubled, making them the biggest bright spot. The increase was due to a bumper crop and a surge in demand after Russia's invasion of Ukraine disrupted a major grain market.

Nonetheless, Pang said the two-week strike by 7,400 B.C. dock and warehouse workers in July took a toll on operations, as month-over-month container shipments fell by a third and pushed many ships to other ports.

"Do they want to see more stability? Absolutely," he said of shippers. "There was no drastic change. But individual decisions, probably there were some.

"Hopefully they will see this as a one-off, and not worry too much about their long-term confidence in the gateway. But I would not be surprised if they would assess this as one of the factors."

Strike backlog 

The port, which handles more than $275 billion in goods each year, continues to clear the backlog created by the job action, he added.

"But we're probably still another two months away from it being actually normal."

Escalating tensions between Canada and India after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's announcement last week of a "potential link" between the fatal shooting in Surrey, B.C., of a Sikh gurdwara leader and the Indian government have yet to make a ripple at the port.

"We're obviously paying attention," Pang said. "I personally have not had any deep conversations with producers about this."

Canadian growers and agricultural distributors in fields such as potash and pulse crops — lentils in particular — rely heavily on the Indian market, one they hope will remain open after reprisals by New Delhi that included suspension of visa services for Canadians.

Crop shipments to India more than doubled to 264,000-plus tonnes in the first half of 2023 from a year earlier, according to the port authority.

Fertilizer and metallurgical coal exports sent to the subcontinent via the port ticked up between three per cent and five per cent to 653,000 tonnes and 1.4 million tonnes, respectively. Both numbers represent more than 10 per cent of the total for the two categories that passed through the Vancouver dockyards.

In April, the federal government approved a contentious container port expansion project at Roberts Bank south of Vancouver, an undertaking that would double its capacity.

Despite laying out 370 legally binding conditions to protect the environment and prevent harm to local species, the approval drew swift condemnation from environmentalists.

Pang said the timeline that would see the terminal go online by the early- to mid-2030s remains in place, with construction slated to begin toward the end of this decade.

The B.C. Environmental Assessment Office said earlier this year it is developing a final provincial assessment report on the project, seeking input from First Nations and the public.

A federal Fisheries Department authorization is also pending, Pang said.