Shipping in Canada 2011. By Statistics Canada. (Ottawa: November 2012). 191 pages. Foreword. Tables. Glossary. Appendix. Available free electronically in English and French (as Le Transport Maritime au Canada) from Statistics Canada’s website. 

Canadian shipping activity in 2011 is comprehensively profiled in this annual review by Statistics Canada. Coverage extends to domestic and international cargo movements, port activity, containers, and vessel movements. The presentation includes textual analysis and dozens of tables and graphs.

According to the report, Canadian ports and marine terminals handled a total of 466 million metric tons of cargo in 2011, a 3.5 percent increase from 2010 that included year-on-year gains for both international and domestic trade. In more detail:

• International cargo hit a record 341.5 million tons, up 2.2 percent from 334 million tons in 2010, thanks in great part to tonnage gains by iron ore and concentrates, salt and potash.
• Domestic cargo throughput rose to 124.6 million tons from 116.4 million metric tons in 2009. Top growth cargoes were crude oil, fuel oils and wheat.
• International container trade increased in box units and cargo tonnage compared with 2010 levels – from 4.5 million to 4.6 million TEUs and from 38.7 million to 40.6 million tons.
• Maritime trade with the United States fell 6.2 percent to 96.6 million tons, reflecting declines in outbound (-7.2 percent) and inbound (-4.2 percent) cargo caused mostly by drops in crude petroleum and fuel oils. 
• Canada’s waterborne trade with the rest of the world hit a record high of 245 million tons, up 6 percent from 231 million tons in 2010, with gains for both exports (+8.1 percent)  and imports (+1.9 percent). 
• Non-U.S. trading regions posting tonnage gains were: Asia (+13 percent); Central America and Antilles (+13.1%); Africa (+4.2 percent); and the Middle East (+2.8 percent).
• Top export commodities were coal – 43.4 million tons (+10.9 percent); iron ore and concentrates – 33.4 million tons (+5.2 percent); crude petroleum – 21.4 million tons (-10.1 percent); wheat – 15.6 million tons (-5.0 percent); and potash – 8.0 million tons (+22 percent).  
• Leading imports were crude petroleum – 36.1 million tons (-1.3 percent; coal – 9.8 million tons (-26 percent); iron ore and concentrates – 9.3 million tons (+5.4 percent) gasoline and aviation turbine fuel – 8.4 million tons (+18.2 percent); miscellaneous manufactures – 5.1 million tons (+5.8 percent).
• The 17 Canadian Port Authorities accounted for 61.2 percent of the cargo tonnage and for all of the container traffic handled by the Canadian port system in 2011.
• In 2011, Port Metro Vancouver remained Canada’s leading port in international cargo (96.5 million tons), total trade (107.6 million tons) and container throughput (2.5 million TEUs). Oil handling complexes in Newfoundland were the top movers of domestic cargo. Hamilton ranked first among Canada’s Great Lakes ports in total tonnage.  

Click here for a profile of Canada’s waterborne trade from 1983 through 2011 and here for 2011 rankings of Canadian ports based on domestic, international and total cargo tonnage handled. The attachment provides statistical summaries of Canada’s waterborne foreign trade by commodity grouping (Table A) and global region (Table B).