Port Saint John saw its revenue return to nearly pre-pandemic levels in the 2021 fiscal year.
The port’s audited financial statements were presented during its annual general meeting Tuesday.
Revenue climbed by 35 per cent last year to $22.3 million, up from $16.5 million in 2020.
That was still slightly below the $24.3 million in revenue recorded in 2019, the year before the pandemic.
Craig Estabrooks, president and CEO of Port Saint John, said the increase in revenue was primarily due to growth in the bulk sector.
“For many, many decades, the Port of Saint John has done a lot of potash movement through the port. Last year was actually a record tonnage of a little over 1.65 million tonnes of potash and it was entirely railed from Saskatchewan,” Estabrooks said following the meeting.
In addition, the port saw a nearly 46 per cent increase in recycled metal with more than 254,000 tonnes moving through the port.
Estabrooks also reflected on the “remarkable” growth in container traffic over the past five years since DP World took over container operations.
Nearly 87,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) came through the port last year, and Estabrooks expects that number to keep climbing.
“I think by the end of 2023, we’ll more than double our throughput of containers,” he said, adding he expects annual container traffic to surpass 200,000 TEUs by that time.
The growth at the port comes as the $205-million west side modernization project nears completion. It is slated to be up and running by early 2023.
In addition, the provincial and federal governments announced $37.8 million for Port Saint John last week to increase cargo storage capacity even further at the west side terminal, enhance crane capacity, and add roll-on/roll-off capabilities for wheeled cargo.
“I think we, as a community, need to reflect on what that means for us. That means infrastructure investments that we haven’t seen for decades. It means that there are jobs and prosperity that are going to occur on this waterfront because of this investment.”
