2024-07-06 05:37:48
Three years after the Laurentia terminal project sank, the idea of container handling has resurfaced at the Port of Quebec, where QSL hopes to handle metal boxes — a project that would be very different from the one blocked by Ottawa.
Without encroaching on the river, Quebec Maritime wants to redevelop its existing facilities in the Beauport Bay. The project is expected to cost $60 million and there are still several steps to take before it can be formalized.
For Robert Bellisle, president and CEO of QSL, the terminal will complement activities at the Port of Montreal, which has a lower draft than the 15 m of the old capital’s port facilities.
“If we can reduce the weight of the ships in Quebec, they will be able to go to Montreal and depart from Europe at full capacity,” the manager explained in an interview. This is not the case for the container ships that sailed to Montreal today. »
Mr. Bellaire believes that 200,000 “20-foot equivalent” containers pass through his terminal in Beauport Bay each year. We are a far cry from the business model of the Laurentia project dominated by the Port of Quebec, which has a maximum annual output of 700,000 metal boxes.
QSL is the largest port terminal operator in the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes region, handling bulk cargoes such as salt and sugar, as well as non-containerized cargoes. It acquired Montreal company Arrimage Empire in 2021, opening the door to the container ship market. The deal accelerated QSL’s thinking about its Quebec facility.
The Laurentia project targets another market segment. Our goal is to overcome the limitations that exist when going from Quebec to Montreal and vice versa.
Robert Bellisle, President and CEO, QSL
Forget Laurentia
In June 2021, the Trudeau government torpedoed the Laurentia, which had been under construction in the Port of Quebec since 2015. The $775 million project planned to add a 610 m deep-water quay line. It would have encroached on the breeding grounds of striped bass, a fish population that had been threatened several times. Canada’s impact assessment agency considered the mitigation measures proposed by the developer at the time for air quality and noise in nearby residential areas to be inadequate.
The QSL president believes modifications to existing facilities should reassure federal authorities on the striped bass issue.
Jacques Roy, a transport expert and professor of operations and logistics management at HEC Montréal, praised the project. However, he believes that certain issues that hurt Laurentia could be invited back into the debate.
“I know the magnitude is not the same, but there could be an increase in truck traffic in the surrounding areas,” he said. “Noise and traffic are where the problems could arise.”
Jean-Paul Rodrigue, professor of maritime business administration at Texas A&M University, believes QSL has just found an interesting niche.
“Transatlantic shipping lines will have a wider margin of error in the number of containers they can load on board,” the expert said. “There could be a local trickle-down effect. When new stops are made available, companies may consider building distribution centers in surrounding areas.”
Necessary authorization
In the business community, the QSL idea is well received. Even the Port of Montreal, which had expressed concerns about the Laurentia project, welcomed the project, which “will optimize the complementarity and resilience of the logistics chain.” The organization did not mention the potential impact on its current volumes.
Before submitting a formal project notification, QSL hopes the Trudeau government will respond positively to its request to expand customs activities at the Port of Quebec to allow for containerized imports and exports.
“There are already customs officers, so we’re talking about adding a little bit of staff,” Mr. Bellaire said, adding that his company is ready to put in the work to create the necessary space so that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) can do the work.
QSL, whose shareholders include the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), viewed the signal from Ottawa as positive. As of Friday, the CBSA had not responded to a request for comment from the regulator. news.
About QSL
Year of Founding: 1978
Headquarters: Quebec
President and CEO: Robert Bellaire
Business Unit: Loading, Logistics, Transport
Workforce: More than 2,000 employees
Geographical distribution: 66 ports and terminals in Canada and the United States
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- 11.3 m
- The maximum depth of vessels that the Port of Montreal can normally accommodate
Source: Montreal Port Authority
- 1.5 million
- Twenty-foot equivalent containers handled in Montreal in 2023
Source: Montreal Port Authority
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