Economic jolt
Port of Saint John predicts expansion project will be a boon for provincial economy

IN JANUARY OF 2015, Port of Saint John CEO Jim Quinn told CBC that a proposed $205-million project to expand and modernize its container terminals was “not just a Saint John project but a New Brunswick project.”

Now that funding has been secured from all three partners to proceed with the thing (the port, the federal government and the New Brunswick government), residents will get to see how accurate Quinn’s statement really is. That’s because the plan to consolidate and upgrade the Rodney and Navy Island terminals on the city’s west side, create a 25-acre area for container storage and deepen the main channel of the port at low tide to 10 metres, will allow the port to accommodate larger vessels, which should increase container traffic for years to come.

And more vessels in the port mean more opportunities for New Brunswick businesses that send their products on those containers to reach global markets and grow their businesses. While numbers on what the upgrade will mean to the New Brunswick economy 30 years from now are strictly guesswork at this point, the port is projecting some solid economic growth for the province during the 2015-2022 project period.