Port of Prince Rupert opens $750 million container facility as trade war reshapes Canadian exports
Canxport terminal, built with CN Rail and Ray-Mont Logistics, launches Friday with capacity to trans-load agricultural goods and petrochemicals destined for Asian markets.
The day's top stories, food & events — every morning at 7. Unsubscribe anytime.
The Port of Prince Rupert opened a $750 million container-handling facility August 29, precisely when Canada is scrambling to diversify exports away from the U.S. amid an escalating trade war.
Canxport, a joint project with Montreal-headquartered Ray-Mont Logistics and CN Rail, is designed to trans-load commodities shipped to the port by rail into containers for overseas shipment. The facility will initially handle agricultural goods, forestry products and petrochemicals, starting with bulk plastic-resin pellets from Dow's Fort Saskatchewan plant, with potential to expand to potash and raw bitumen.
Ray-Mont's chief strategy officer Stephen Paul said "the timing is fortuitous, (with) everything going on," considering escalating U.S. trade tensions. "It allows us to immediately provide solutions for people who want to hit those goals," referring to Canada's ambition to double its non-U.S. export trade by 2035.
Canada's West Coast Ports, including Prince Rupert, handled $409 billion of Canada's export trade in 2025. Peter Xotta, CEO of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, said the facilities "have an outsized role to play" in expanding trade. "We are poised to unlock one of our country's greatest trade opportunities," particularly in the Indo-Pacific.
Initially, Canxport will handle up to 400,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units of cargo annually, with capacity to expand — equivalent to an additional six million tonnes moving through the port per year. The facility was built with partners Gixaala and Metlakatla Nations.
Paul said Ray-Mont's phone has been ringing more often from agricultural shippers. "People are definitely exploring and saying, 'OK, with (the) trade war and various different things that are going on, could you do this?'" He added that Prince Rupert's abundance of empty containers arriving from Asia creates an ideal opportunity to send exports back that way.
The Port of Vancouver has some trans-loading facilities but operates at smaller scale. Prince Rupert's advantage lies in having room to receive commodities at much larger scale, with trains bringing single commodities directly to containers bound for port. The Fairview container terminal can handle 1.6 million twenty-foot-equivalent units annually; Canxport's flow could increase that to two million. Port CEO Kurt Slocombe said Canxport "(will be), if it's not the largest in North America, it's going to be in the top few."
Between Canxport and new propane export facilities due in 2027, Slocombe anticipates a 10 per cent increase in export volumes in 2027 after several years of relatively stable levels.
By the numbers
What is the initial annual capacity of the Canxport terminal?
Canxport will initially handle up to 400,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units of cargo annually, equivalent to an additional six million tonnes moving through the Port of Prince Rupert per year.
How much export trade did Canada's West Coast Ports handle in 2025?
Canada's West Coast Ports, including Prince Rupert, handled $409 billion of Canada's export trade in 2025.
What is Prince Rupert's total container handling capacity with Canxport operational?
The Fairview container terminal can handle 1.6 million twenty-foot-equivalent units annually; with Canxport's flow added, the Port of Prince Rupert's capacity could increase to two million twenty-foot-equivalent units per year.
