This Canadian port saw containers increase 175% in four years

Investment boosted volume by a third in 2025

Port Saint John, N.B. (Photo: Port Saint John)

Canada’s Port Saint John saw infrastructure investment pay off handsomely in 2025.

The eastern hub in New Brunswick province said container volumes increased by 29.4% between 2024 and 2025, from 184,879 twenty foot equivalent units (TEUs) to 239,364 TEUs.

Saint John’s box gains outpaced the Port of Prince Rupert, 14%, Port of Montreal, 3.6%, and Vancouver, 6% (H1).

The port credited completion of $247 million in public-private investments at its west side terminal operated by DP World.  

Container volume at Saint John, long known as a center for petrochemical and other bulk cargoes, has risen 175.2% from 86,949 TEUs in 2021.

“2025 was a defining year for our container sector,” said Craig Bell Estabrooks, president and chief executive of Port Saint John, in a release. “The collective efforts of DP World, supply chain and marine partners, and waterfront workers continue to make Port Saint John a port of choice for global trade.”

Port Saint John counts Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk (MAERSK-B.CO), Mediterranean Shipping Co., and CMA CGM as container transportation providers. NB Southern Railway serves the port with connections to CPKC (NYSE: CP), CN (NYSE: CNI), and CSX (NASDAQ: CSX).

Read more articles by Stuart Chirls here.

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Stuart Chirls

Stuart Chirls is a journalist who has covered the full breadth of railroads, intermodal, container shipping, ports, supply chain and logistics for Railway Age, the Journal of Commerce and IANA. He has also staffed at S&P, McGraw-Hill, United Business Media, Advance Media, Tribune Co., The New York Times Co., and worked in supply chain with BASF, the world's largest chemical producer. Reach him at stuartchirls@firecrown.com.