OUR ECONOMIC IMPACT

The growth at Port Saint John has been substantial over the past year, landing our Port as one of the fastest growing ports on the Eastern seaboard.

In 2022, Port Saint John nearly doubled its container throughput from 86,000 TEU (in 2021) to 151,000 TEU. This growth will continue in 2023, our first full year with three container lines making regular calls. Over the course of the next five years, we project to grow our container business to an annual throughput of 300,000 TEU.

Port Saint John boasts a diversified cargo base with significant economic impact from containers, dry bulk, and cruise within the inner harbour. Port Saint John’s cruise operations continue to grow at or near all-time highs with a scheduled 75 ships calling in 2023. Our dry bulk operations have grown significantly over the past few years.

The impact of Port Saint John is significant on our provincial and local economy and our growth means that we can continue to play a role in job creation for our community. In a 2022 study, Deloitte measured the economic impact of container throughput at 300,000 TEU as well as dry bulk and cruise operations (liquid bulk operations are significant but not included in this study of the inner harbour). The total economic contribution estimates (direct, indirect, and induced level) would be $163M in GDP resulting in $14.1M in provincial and municipal taxes. Deloitte also mapped out our future growth potential and at 550,000 TEU the impact is $275.1M in GDP resulting in $24M in taxes and at 800,000 TEU the impact is $377M in GDP resulting in $33M in taxes.

In addition to these impacts, the cruise sector brings over $68 million annually to the Saint John and southern New Brunswick economies. This economic impact includes direct spending by cruise lines, passengers, and crew in the Bay of Fundy region and direct jobs for New Brunswickers.