“Unprecedented” shipping volumes at Port of Oshawa

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

The shipping season at the Port of Oshawa is off to a wildly successful start, with shipments up by an “unprecedented” 93 per cent, the port recently announced in a press release.

Since the start of the season in April, volumes on almost every type of cargo moving through Oshawa’s port, from steel to potash to calcium chloride are all way up from the same time last year.

“It is good news, and it’s up really quite significantly,” says Gary Valcour, chairman of the board of the Oshawa Port Authority. “We can attribute it, in part, to the great work we’ve been doing to keep improving things and getting the word out that we’re open for business.”

A new cargo pad, constructed late last year, and the completion of the CN rail spur into the port have all aided in the port’s business, Valcour says.

Now, the port is moving onto another project, with construction underway on a 45,000-square-foot transit shed on Farewell Avenue set to be completed next month.

“So far, this is one of our strongest shipping seasons ever,” said Donna Taylor, the port’s president and CEO, in a news release. “With the rapid growth in the GTA home and condo construction, there’s been strong demand for steel rebar. We’re pleased the port is supporting both the steel and residential industries.”

Steel continues to be the Port of Oshawa’s leading cargo, with more than 105 tonnes of the metal shipping through the port as of the end of June, twice the weight shipped through in the same period last year.

The heavy construction throughout the GTA has played a large role in driving up that number, Valcour says.

“Franky, we’re getting a lot of that steel that is being imported because it’s convenient for people to move it from Oshawa to the GTA, certainly the eastern portions of the GTA and even somewhat to the west.

“I think all of it has helped us to see, a pretty good year,” he says.