version français

February 16, 2007: Fraser River Port’s 2006 cargo volumes declined 8 percent from last year to 35,897,566 tonnes. The total includes 4,005,370 tonnes of international shipments and a 4 percent decline in domestic shipping to 31,892,196 tonnes.

Despite overall declines, international wood product imports continued to grow including lumber, which displayed an increase of 170 percent to 13,590 tonnes for the year and pulp posted 3,886 tonnes more than last year. Steel imports also increased by 25 percent in 2006 to 992,319 tonnes.

Auto shipments through the Port’s terminals continued to climb to a year-to-date total of 465,092 units increasing 3 percent over last year.

Container traffic declined 75 percent in 2006 to 94,651 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) for the year. The drop in TEUs can be pinpointed to consolidations and reallocation of container traffic in the Northwest.

Domestic inbound lumber increased 94 percent to 136,500 tonnes in 2006; a difference of 66,000 tonnes compared to 2005. Wood chips also increased 73 percent to a total of 368,750 tonnes for the year. Outbound domestic aggregates increased 50 percent to 484,500 tonnes and steel by 23 percent to 352,254 tonnes.

Ship arrivals to the Port dropped to 598 for the year, a 14 percent decline from 2005.

Fraser River Port is Canada’s largest river port and Canada’s largest automobile port, encompassing 270 kilometres of shoreline along the first 60 kilometres of the Fraser River. It generates 16,100 direct local jobs and contributes $1.3 billion to Canada’s Gross Domestic Product.

The Fraser River Port Authority – which manages the Port – is a not-for-profit agency fully funded by port users. It facilitates marine trade and port-related activities on the main arm of the Fraser River, including annual channel maintenance dredging to keep this vital trade link open for ships and help prevent flooding.

Domestic cargo summary - 4th quarter 2006
International cargo summary - 4th quarter 2006