Cargo Growth Forecast at Canada's West Coast Ports

Ocean Shipping Consultants' 2016 container traffic report for the west coast of Canada forecasted that container demand through the Port of Vancouver and Port of Prince Rupert would be 6.62 million twenty-foot equivalent unit containers (TEUs) by 2030 (base case), with 5.93 million TEUs and 7.53 million TEUs as the low case and high case respectively.

The forecast shows continued growth in container trade through the west coast of Canada at a compound annual growth rate of about 4 percent, and reinforces the need for planned increases of capacity to ship goods in containers through the existing Deltaport and Centerm terminals in Vancouver and the Fairview Terminal in Prince Rupert. The report also confirms that the proposed Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project will be needed by the mid-2020s.

The graph shows the OSC 2016 forecast and planned container capacity increases on the west coast of Canada.