Port of Vancouver says record volumes of cargo moved during first half of 2025

VANCOUVER – Record volumes moved through Canada’s biggest port during the first half of this year as cross-border trade strife pushed businesses to seek customers outside of the United States, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority said Friday. 

The 85 million metric tonnes the Port of Vancouver handled between January and June marked a 13 per cent increase over the same period a year earlier. 

“It tells the story of ongoing success of Canada’s transportation and supply chains, notwithstanding, or in spite of, all of the rhetoric and noise that that’s going on about geopolitics globally,” Peter Xotta, the port authority’s president and CEO, said. 

Vancouver is the fourth-largest port in North America by tonnage, and handles almost as much cargo as Canada’s next five largest ports combined. It enables trade with 170 countries and more than 80 per cent of the products that move through Vancouver go to markets other than the United States.

The biggest increase in the latest figures was in crude oil exports, which were almost five times higher than the first half of last year thanks to the startup of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in May 2024. 

About 60 per cent of the crude export volumes during the first half of 2025 went to China. 

Planning is underway to dredge part of Burrard Inlet so tankers can move more easily out of the Westridge Terminal, the end point of the Trans Mountain pipeline. Currently, vessels can’t be completely filled up due to the water depth and other issues in the area, Xotta said. 

“We want to be able to fill the vessels fully. That increases the capacity, obviously, of the supply chain, but also just is an optimization and efficiency initiative that everyone else will benefit from as well.”

Canola oil exports moving through the port were up 72 per cent to 700,000 metric tonnes as shipments were able to move to markets other than China and the United States. 

Agricultural product volumes as a whole are looking robust, Xotta said. 

“All reports are this will be at or near a record agriculture output for Canada this growing season, which will translate, I suspect, to very, very robust volumes through the through the balance of the year,” he said. 

The port’s four container terminals saw a six per cent increase in volumes year-over-year, while cruise ship passenger visits fell nine per cent.

The pandemic obliterated cruise volumes for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but they came back “exceptionally strong” in 2024, Xotta said. 

The latest cargo numbers come as Canada pushes to diversify its trading relationships beyond the United States, which has made tariffs a centrepiece of its economic policy under President Donald Trump. 

There’s been discussion about how to increase market penetration among Asia-Pacific economies with which Canada has a relationship. After the pandemic, labour disruptions and destructive weather events in recent years, stability has returned and Xotta is hoping those trading partners take notice. 

“Our performance right now is rebuilding our reputation with those nations that have maybe had some questions. And my hope, of course, is that we continue on that trajectory.”

— By Lauren Krugel in Calgary

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2025.