The Marine and Port Dashboard shows annual statistics on:
- Containerized traffic at Canada's 5 container ports
- Total volume at the 17 Canada Port Authorities (CPAs)
- The Canadian-registered fleet of large vessels
- Employment in the marine sector
- Contribution of the marine sector to the GDP
- Traffic on the St. Lawrence Seaway
- Vessel transit times, total distance sailed and number of unique daily vessels derived from Automatic Identification System (AIS) data
- Monthly container port metrics for Canada's five container ports
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Vessel transit times 2013-20242.73 MB | 2.73 MB |
| Vessel registry 2013-20241.31 KB | 1.31 KB |
| Areas of interest6.07 KB | 6.07 KB |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) 2013-20241.81 KB | 1.81 KB |
| Employment in the marine sector 2013-2024891 bytes | 891 bytes |
| Seaway tonnage report data25.21 KB | 25.21 KB |
| Seaway vessel traffic data621.37 KB | 621.37 KB |
| AIS trackline monthly data 2013-202517.56 MB | 17.56 MB |
| Cargo tonnage handled by Canada Port Authorities 2013-20254.63 KB | 4.63 KB |
| Containerized freight volumes for selected ports 2013-20257.86 KB | 7.86 KB |
| Monthly port performance - containers8.02 KB | 8.02 KB |
This dashboard gives you the ability to conduct in-depth analyses, support policy development and decision making, and monitor the performance of the network, the supply chain and transportation sector.
The tabs contain the following information:
Marine indicators.
Comprises three navigable tabs at the top of the dashboard:
- Container: Containerized Freight Volumes in TEUs by the Canada Port Authorities (CPAs)
- Amount of empty and loaded containers handled by five ports: Halifax, Montreal, Prince Rupert, Saint John, and Vancouver-Fraser.
- Year-over-year change.
- Cargo: Cargo Tonnage Handled in Tonnes by the Canada Port Authorities (CPAs)
- Amount of cargo handled by 17 ports: Belledune, Halifax, Hamilton-Oshawa, Montreal, Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Prince Rupert, Quebec, Saguenay, Saint John, Sept-Iles, St. John's, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Trois-Rivières, Vancouver-Fraser, and Windsor.
- Year-over-year change.
- Vessel Transit: Vessel Transit Time derived using Automatic Identification System (AIS) data
- Origin to destination routes
- Median transit time
- Number of primary trips per routes
- Number of secondary trips
- Direction of Vessel
- Canada Port Authorities
- Selected USA ports
Monthly Container Performance
Comprises two navigable tabs at the top of the dashboard:
- Metrics: Monthly container performance statistics by port
- Container volumes
- Import rail container dwell time in days
- TEUs per vessel call
- Number of vessel calls
- Vessel time at anchor and at berth in days
- Volumes: Monthly container volumes in TEUs and percentage change by port
- Container volumes
- Month-over-month change
- Year-over-year change
- Year-to-date container volumes
- Year-to-date yearly percentage change
Economic indicators
- Employment: Number of people working in the marine shipping and transportation sectors
- Number of people working in the marine shipping sector
- Number of people working in the transportation sector
- Share of marine shipping sector in the transportation sector
- Gross domestic product (GDP): Contribution of the marine and transportation sectors to the GDP
- Contribution of the marine sector to the GDP
- Share of the marine sector to the transportation GDP
- Share of the transportation sector to the total GDP
Vessels
- Vessels: Number of large Canadian-registered vessels
- Number of Canadian-registered vessels by type
- Deadweight tonnage: Deadweight tonnage by vessel type
- Deadweight tonnage by vessel type
- Average deadweight tonnage by vessel type
Seaway
- Tonnage: Tonnage that transited through the St. Lawrence Seaway lock system
- Tonnage that transited through the Seaway by main commodity groupings
- Current and previous year
- Vessel traffic: Traffic that transited through the St. Lawrence Seaway lock system
- Cargo tonnage by section
- Vessel transits by section
- Vessel transits by direction and vessel type
AIS Track-lines
- Distance sailed: Distance sailed in kilometres in Canadian and surrounding waters
- Kilometres sailed by vessel type
- Kilometres sailed by country of registration
- Unique daily vessels: Unique daily vessels in Canadian and surrounding waters
- Unique daily vessels by vessel type
- Unique daily vessels by country of registration
For detailed methodological information, please see Marine and Port Dashboard - Supplementary Information.
Sources
Containerized and non-containerized traffic: Information submitted by Canada Port Authorities to Transport Canada. Data collected and updated annually.
Economic indicators: Information provided by Statistics Canada. Data updated annually.
Monthly Container Performance: Information provided by Canada's five container ports. Data updated monthly.
Vessels: Transport Canada’s vessel registration system data. Data updated annually.
Seaway: St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation Traffic Reports. Data updated annually.
Vessel transit times, distance sailed and unique daily vessels: Multiple sources of data from vessel automatic identification system (AIS) were fused together – exactEarth (satellite-based), Spire (satellite and dynamic-based), the Canadian Coast Guard (land-based), and MarineTraffic/FleetMon (land-based). Indicators are updated annually.
Note:
Vessel Transit Time Tab: While terminals/detailed ports within a Canadian or American port have been consolidated, it is not the case for terminals/detailed ports located elsewhere in the world.
Limitations
AIS data, while widely used, can sometimes be incomplete or inaccurate due to signal issues or errors in tracking. Though we used multiple data sources to fill in gaps, some trips may be missing or contain errors.
Additionally, certain ports may be split into smaller terminals, which can affect how we calculate and interpret ship movements.
Glossary
- Bulk carriers are vessels designed to transport large quantities of dry, unpackaged goods, such as coal, grain, ore, and other bulk commodities, without the need for specialized packaging or containers.
- Cargo vessels are vessels designed to transport a diverse range of goods that can be loaded on pallets, packaged in boxes or bags, or transported as loose items that must be handled individually (machinery, equipment, vehicles, etc.)
- Container ships are vessels designed for the transportation of intermodal containers, which can carry a wide variety of general cargo (e.g., textiles, electronics, or food products).
- Tankers are vessels purposely built to carry large quantities of liquid commodities in bulk, such as petroleum products, chemicals, liquefied gases, and food liquids (e.g., wine, oil, molasse, etc.).
- Primary trip: The first major leg of a ship's journey from one port to another.
- Secondary trip: Additional trips that occur after the primary trip, as the ship continues to other destinations.
- TEU is a standard size for shipping containers. It stands for Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit.
- Tonnes (or metric tons) refer to a shipping unit measuring the weight of cargo.