DP World plans to develop and operate a container terminal outside Montreal, Canada, at a cost of up to 1.6 billion Canadian dollars (approximately 8.264 billion Chinese yuan).
DP World announced that it has signed an agreement with the Montreal Port Authority to be responsible for designing the landside engineering of the Contrecoeur terminal, followed by the development of a long-term operational plan. DP World currently operates the Centerm terminal at the Port of Vancouver in Canada, as well as container terminals at the Port of Prince Rupert and the Port of Saint John.
The Contrecoeur terminal is located on the upper reaches of the Saint Lawrence River and can handle an annual throughput of 1.15 million TEUs. The main vessel sizes currently handled at the existing container terminals of the Port of Montreal are in the range of 4,000-5,000 TEUs, with the maximum capacity to handle 8,000 TEU-class container ships. The Contrecoeur terminal will have even greater handling capacity. The Montreal Port Authority is collaborating with the government to initiate a trial operation for large vessel navigation on the Saint Lawrence River.
The Contrecoeur terminal project has been in development since the 1980s. In 2023, several terminal operators withdrew from the bidding due to high underwater engineering costs, causing project delays. As Canada seeks to reduce its trade dependence on the United States, advancing this project has become a national priority. DP World stated that the underwater engineering for the Contrecoeur terminal will begin next year, with landside construction planned to start in 2027, and operations scheduled to commence in 2030.
