The Port of Montreal (French: Port de Montréal) (ACI Canadian Port Code: 0395,^[6][7] UN/LOCODE: CA MTR)^[8][9] is a cruise and transshipment point. It is located on the St. Lawrence River in Montreal, Québec, Canada. The port operates as an international container port. It services Toronto, the rest of Central Canada, the Midwestern United States, and the Northeastern United States.^[10] Though found on the Saint Lawrence Seaway, it is some 1,600 miles (2,600 km) inland from the Atlantic Ocean and it is on the shortest direct route between the North American Midwest and Europe or the Mediterranean.

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Quick Facts Port of Montreal, Location ...

Port of Montreal Port de Montréal
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Location
Country	Canada
Location	Montreal, Quebec Contrecœur, Quebec
Coordinates	45.547°N 73.530°W / 45.547; -73.530
UN/LOCODE	CAMTR[1]
Details
Opened	Montreal Port Authority (1999) Montreal Port Corporation (1983) National Harbours Board (1936) Harbour Commission (1830)
Operated by	Montreal Port Authority
Owned by	Government of Canada
Land area	6.35 km2 (2.45 sq mi) (Montreal) 4.67 km2 (1.80 sq mi) (Contrecœur)[2]
No. of berths	82 [3]
Draft depth	11 m (36 ft)[3]
Employees	537[2]
Chairman	Michel M. Lessard
President & CEO	Martin Imbleau
Statistics
Vessel arrivals	2,738 (2018)
Annual cargo tonnage	40.500 million metric tons (2019)[4]
Annual container volume	1.74 million TEUs (2019)[5]
Passenger traffic	127,041 (2018)[5]
Annual revenue	C$106.7 million (2016)[5]
Net income	C$23.5 million (2016)[5]
Website www.port-montreal.com

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In 2019, more than 2,000 cargo ships visited with the port, while handling 40,500,000^[4] metric tonnes of consumer goods, machinery, cereal, sugar, petroleum products, and other types of cargo. Montreal also welcomes cruise ships. The port is operated by the Montreal Port Authority.

The port originated in the historic area now known as the Old Port of Montreal.^[11] Over the years, the Port of Montreal expanded eastward along the waterfront. In 1978, the Port of Montreal ceded the area now known as the Old Port to the Old Port of Montreal Corporation, a public corporation responsible for developing tourism and recreational activities in the area. The site is now a cultural gem and a major tourist attraction, having been enhanced with museums, restaurants, shops and water-related activities. Today, most Port of Montreal facilities are located downstream from the Old Port. The Montreal Port Authority's head office and the multipurpose Bickerdike Terminal are located upstream from the Old Port.

Timeline

This section is in list format but may read better as prose. (June 2013)

Starting from the first authority:^[12]

• 1830: The first Harbour Commission is created. It built the first permanent wharves and pressed the government to dredge the river.
• 1830–1832: 1,143 metres (3,750 ft) of docks are built.
• 1840: The Gold-Headed Cane tradition begins, giving a cane to the captain of the first vessel to reach the port in the year.
• 1854: The navigation channel between Quebec City and Montreal is deepened to 4.88 metres (16.0 ft) and widened to 76.19 metres (250 ft).
• 1872: Archives for May 28 note that "there were 70 vessels—21 of them ocean-going steamships—docked at different berths, representing a total of 53,769 tonnes (59,270 short tons; 52,920 long tons)."
• 1883: Channel is dredged to 7.5 metres (25 ft).
• 1902: Start of construction of modern grain elevators in the port.
• 1908: First permanent transit sheds constructed.
• 1910: Project to deepen the channel to 10.7 metres (35 ft) began.
• 1936: The federal government creates the National Harbours Board.
• 1947: More than 25 steamship lines serve the port for seven and a half months of the year.
• 1962: The federal government decides to use icebreakers to keep the channel open between Montreal and Quebec City during winter.
• 1964: Year-round navigation begins in Montreal. In 1962, the Canadian Coast Guard began to use icebreakers to keep the St. Lawrence navigation channel open, first and foremost as an environmental measure designed to protect riverside communities from spring floods caused by ice jams.^[13] Year-round navigation to and from the port began in 1964.
• 1967: The port handles its first container.
• 1968: Canada's first container terminal is inaugurated in Montreal.
• 1972: Construction begins on Cast container terminal.
• 1977: The port handles its one-millionth TEU container.

• 1978: The port builds Racine container terminal and expands its operations in Montreal's east end.
• 1983: The Montreal Port Corporation is established.
• 1987: Maisonneuve container terminal (Termont) opens.
• 1992: Maximum draught is increased to 11 metres (36 ft).
• 1996: Three brand-new vessels, capable of carrying 2,300 TEU containers each, are christened in Montreal.
• 1998: Two shipping lines take delivery of three ships capable of transporting 2,800 TEU containers or the equivalent.
• 1999: Under the Canada Marine Act, the Montreal Port Corporation becomes the more autonomous Montreal Port Authority.
• 2000: The Port of Montreal handles more than 1 million TEU containers a year for the first time in its history.
• 2006: The port reaches a new milestone by handling more than 25 million tonnes of cargo.
• 2008: Electronic navigation system is implemented from Montreal to the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
• 2011: The port opens a new common entry portal for trucks, transfers the management of its grain terminal operations to Viterra Inc., and reaches a new milestone by handling more than 28 million tonnes of cargo.
• 2020: A series of labour disputes shut down the Port as part of the 2020 Port of Montreal strike.

Maritime and port activity in Montreal supports some 18,280 jobs and provides $1.5 billion in economic benefits to the Canadian economy (Secor study, 2008).^[2]

The three levels of government recognize the importance of the Port of Montreal to the economy and are supporting the port on various projects. For example, the Province of Québec announced in May 2013 the signature of a collaborative framework with the City of Montreal for the extension of a thoroughfare that will link with port facilities.^[14] The province also announced the construction of an exit ramp from a major highway that will allow trucks to directly reach the port, and the reconfiguration of an entrance ramp on the same highway that will provide trucks leaving the port with direct access to the highway network. The two projects will improve truck access at the Port of Montreal.

The federal government announced in March 2012 that it would contribute up to $15.1 million toward two projects that will increase the port's container-handling capacity.^[15] At the same time it announced a subsidy of $500,000 toward the second phase of an electronic navigation project in the St. Lawrence River channel between Quebec City and Montreal.

The Port of Montreal was behind the creation of the Logistics and Transportation Metropolitan Cluster of Montreal, or Cargo Montreal, an initiative that will help consolidate Montreal as a centre for goods transportation.^[16] The project is supported by the Metropolitan Community and its activities are financially supported by Québec's Finance and Economy Ministry, Executive Council Ministry, the Montreal Metropolitan Community and all Cargo Montreal members, while Transport Canada is a participant.

On the island of Montreal, port territory stretches along 26 kilometres (16 mi) of the waterfront from the Victoria Bridge at the upstream end of the port to Pointe-aux-Trembles at the downstream end of the port.^[2]

The port also has a terminal at Contrecoeur, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River about 40 kilometres (25 mi) downstream from Montreal. The port owns land along four kilometres (2.5 mi) of the waterfront at Contrecoeur. This land will be used to increase the port's container-handling capacity once its land on the island of Montreal reaches full capacity.^[19]

The Port of Montreal and the shipping channel between Montreal and Quebec City has a draft depth of 11.3 metres (37 ft)^[23] and is capable of handling neopanamax container ships of up to 6,000 TEUs.^[24]

The port authority provides facilities to shipping lines and land carriers, to terminal operators and to freight transport. It builds and maintains infrastructures that it leases to private stevedoring companies.

The port also has its own railway network, which includes more than 100 kilometres (62 mi) of track with direct access to almost every berth and further provides transcontinental railways through signed agreements with Canadian National Railway Co. (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) to improve supply chain efficiency for container traffic throughout North America.^[28][29]

The Montreal Port Authority operates the Port of Montreal and is a member of: the Association of Canadian Port Authorities (CPA),^[30] the American Association of Port Authorities,^[31] and the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH).^[32] The port authority is an autonomous self-financing federal agency created under the terms of the Canada Marine Act.^[33]

The port authority's board of directors is composed of seven business people from the Montreal area. Each of three levels of government – federal, provincial and municipal – names a director. The federal transport minister, on the recommendation of port users, names the remaining four directors.^[34] The board elects its own chairman.^[35] As of 2016, the Port Authority had 237 employees, total revenue from operations was $106.7 million and its net earnings totalled $23.5 million.^[5]

• – Port of Antwerp, Belgium (2021)^[36]
• – Port of Marseille-Fos, France (2020)^[37]
• – Port of Tianjin, China
• – Mundra Port, Gujarat State, India (2018)^[38] Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

The Port of Montreal has won numerous awards for its work in communications, the cruise sector, infrastructure and management.

The port won three awards in the American Association of Port Authorities’ (AAPA) 2013 Communications Competition.^[39] The port won an Award of Excellence for its new website, an Award of Distinction for its PortInfo electronic magazine, and an Award of Merit for its new branding campaign “Trading with the World.”

The port also won the International Association of Ports and Harbors’ (IAPH) bronze 2013 Port Communications Award.^[40] The prize recognizes a project that provides free Wi-Fi on Port of Montreal territory to seafarers whose ships are docked in port. The service allows mariners to connect more easily with family and friends back home.

In the cruise sector, the port won an award for its cruise operations from Cruise Insight magazine for a fifth consecutive year in 2013.^[41] It won the Most Efficient Port Services award, which recognizes the port's combination of port agency and customs services and its working relationship with cruise line operations departments.

In 2012, the port won four Cruise Insight awards of excellence: Most Responsive Port, Best Turnaround Destination, Most Efficient Terminal Operator and Best Turnaround Port Operations.^[42]

In 2011, the port won awards as Most Efficient Terminal Operator and Best Turnaround Destination.,^[43] and in 2010 it won Best Turnaround Port Operations and Best Turnaround Destination.^[44]

Also in 2011, the port won the Grand Prize for Excellence in the Cargo Transportation category from Québec's road transportation association, the Association québécoise du transport et des routes, for the successful completion of its new entry portal for trucks on port territory.^[45]

In 2012, port president and CEO Sylvie Vachon received the Prix Orchidée from the East Montreal Chamber of Commerce. The award honours a VIP who makes both a commitment and an outstanding contribution to East Montreal's economic and social development.^[46]

• Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal
• Maritime Rescue Sub-Centre Quebec
• List of North American ports
• List of world's busiest container ports
• Container on barge