A ship docked at Global Container Terminals Inc.'s Vanterm facility at the Port of Vancouver on Oct. 21.JESSE WINTER/The Globe and Mail
Canadian trade with China surged 20 per cent last year at the Port of Vancouver, contributing to record-high cargo volumes as Canada steps up plans to diversify trading partners amid escalating tensions with the United States.
In total, the Port of Vancouver enjoyed an upswing in overall cargo volumes of 5 per cent to a record 158.4 million tonnes last year.
China was by far the largest trading partner with Canada at the port in 2024, accounting for 45.8 million tonnes of exported and imported cargo – a record high for trade between the two countries.
Exports accounted for 78 per cent of Canada-China tonnage last year.
Canada has faced rising political tensions with China and India in recent years. But U.S. President Donald Trump’s series of threatened tariffs has shifted the spotlight to the need to strengthen trade beyond the U.S., especially Asia in the case of the Port of Vancouver.
The goal is to help fulfill the Canadian government’s Indo-Pacific economic strategy and position Canada as the gateway to greater transpacific trade over the long term.
Peter Xotta, chief executive officer of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, said continuing trade friction with China remains a wild card. For example, Chinese tariffs on Canadian canola oil and meal are set to take effect on March 20.
“We’re living in interesting times. I mean that can’t be more true than right now, with all the geopolitics,” he said in an interview on Monday, adding that threatened U.S. tariffs have created much uncertainty.
“The intertwining of the Canadian and the U.S. economy has taken generations to get in place, mostly because it was productive and positive for both countries,” Mr. Xotta said.
The port authority reports to the federal Transport Minister.
In contrast to brisk Canada-China trade last year, cargo volumes with Japan fell 6 per cent to 18.8 million tonnes.
But trade through the port between Canada and South Korea climbed 24 per cent to 17.9 million tonnes, while Canada-U.S. trade soared 84 per cent to 10.4 million tonnes.
Canada-U.S. trade got a boost from the Westridge Marine Terminal, where tankers depart with heavy oil from the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX). The first shipment of diluted bitumen from the TMX pipeline left Westridge nearly 10 months ago for China, and dozens of tankers have made deliveries to California since then.
A wide-ranging category called break bulk – goods that are moved separately aboard ships but not inside containers – saw an 18-per-cent decrease in volumes in 2024. That included a drop of 38 per cent in log exports, reflecting timber constraints in British Columbia.
The Port of Vancouver’s diversification softened the blow of the economic impact of a labour dispute in November.
Cargo from containers, including imported consumer goods from Asia and exports of commodities, rose 11 per cent at Canada’s largest port last year to nearly 3.5 million for an industry measurement called TEUs (20-foot equivalent units).
Mr. Xotta said the Port of Vancouver welcomes “this kind of new imperative of trade diversification to access those markets.”
The port’s container expansion strategy focuses on the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 (RBT2) project near Delta, about 30 kilometres south of Vancouver.
The project is subject to 370 legally binding conditions to comply with environmental rules, and it received approval in 2023 from the federal and B.C. governments.
Environmentalists warn that the new container terminal would threaten intertidal biofilm, affecting shorebirds such as western sandpipers and harming feeding conditions for endangered southern resident killer whales.
But Mr. Xotta said Canada needs greater resilience in its supply chain, and RBT2 will be crucial.
“This is the nation-building project that we’re trying to do in the Port of Vancouver for Canada, for generations to come,” he said. “We really need to be focused on making sure that we’re not constrained in our ability to pivot.”
The initial phase of RBT2 is scheduled to be completed by the mid-2030s.