The Port of Montreal Sets Five-Year Investment Plan for New Sustainable Infrastructure

(Credit: Port of Montreal)

The Port of Montreal has earmarked $335 million in its new five-year investment plan for its infrastructure on the Island of Montreal. These investments are necessary to consolidate the Port of Montreal's status as a trading platform at the heart of the strategic St. Lawrence corridor and support the energy transition. The announcement was made by Martin Imbleau, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Montreal Port Authority (MPA) during a speech at the Transport and Logistics Forum organized by the Chambre de commerce de l'Est de Montréal (CCEM).

Martin Imbleau outlined the Port of Montreal's role and scope in the city's east end from a long-term perspective. Now that the Port of Montreal is approaching its full container handling capacity, it wants to invest heavily in its infrastructure on the island.

These investments are geared to achieve four main objectives:

• Sustainably develop and maintain port infrastructure to accommodate trade growth for the benefit of exporting and importing companies
• Strengthen the Greater Montreal supply chain where the country's supply chains have been weakened over the past two years by factors such as the labor shortage, inflation, and issues with procurement and storage
• Accelerate the decarbonization of port activities and the energy transition. To this end, the MPA has already implemented major initiatives, including the installation of shore power for wintering ships and cruise ships and the electrification of its fleet of service vehicles. Future plans include larger-scale rollouts of electric power systems and developing green fuels
• Improve the city-port interface by creating a landscaped embankment on Notre Dame to minimize any visual and noise impacts of port activities and planting 2,000 trees. The Port of Montreal aims to invest $10 million in this

Key projects planned for the next five years in Montreal include: optimizing substations, which will make it possible for the Port to meet the growing demand for electrical energy; optimizing rail capacity by adding more tracks, which will improve the fluidity of rail traffic and storage; and wharf modernization to safely accommodate vessels

Concurrently, the Port of Montreal will, with its private partner and government support at every level, invest in port expansion in Contrecœur to ensure sufficient infrastructure for importers and exporters throughout Quebec.