Now Available: Canada Shipping Report Q2 2013

Fast Market Research recommends "Canada Shipping Report Q2 2013" from Business Monitor International, now available

by Bill Thompson

(WireNews+Co) - Boston, MA - 05 March 2013

For the moment BMI maintains its broadly optimistic outlook for the Canadian port sector, but we remain concerned about import and export volumes. A slowdown in private consumption should lead to weaker import growth in 2013. Meanwhile, a renewed US recession would severely negatively impact Canadian exports and we could easily see the contribution from net exports turn negative in the next year or two.

We have downgraded our Canadian GDP growth forecast for 2013 to 2.1% from 2.3%. While most of our individual forecasts of GDP by expenditure category remain the same, we have downgraded our real export growth projection to 5.0% from 5.7%, due to the fact that the strong Canadian dollar is hurting the export sector, while the external climate (with weakness in the crucial US export market) is beginning to hurt foreign trade. This accounts almost entirely for the decline in our overall GDP projection.

Headline Industry Data

- 2013 Port of Vancouver tonnage throughput forecast to grow 2.5%. Over the medium term we project average annual growth of 14% to reach 143.4mn tonnes in 2017.
- 2013 Port of Vancouver container throughput forecast to grow 6.7%. Over the medium term we project a 33.9% increase, to reach 3.6mn twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2017.

View Full Report Details (http://www.fastmr.com/prod/541165_canada_shipping_report_q2_2013.aspx?afid=201) (http://www.fastmr.com/prod/541165_canada_shipping_report_q2_2013.aspx?afid=201)

Key Industry Trends

Port of Halifax Tripled Throughput After Hurricane Sandy

The Canadian port of Halifax has tripled its throughput thanks to cargo diverted from US ports in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey closed the port for a period due to power outages and destruction from the storm.

Bright Future For Prince Rupert As It Pilots Screening Of US Cargo

The port of Prince Rupert is working towards an official badge of security approval as US authorities are continuing to push screening of inbound maritime cargo across the national border to the Pacific coast of Canada.

Halifax and Panama Canal Authority sign MoU

The port of Halifax became the first Canadian port to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Panama Canal Authority. The port signed the MoU in order to identify business opportunities, increase awareness of the port, exchange information, and undertake joint marketing initiatives.

Risks To Outlook

The biggest risk by far is the potential for a eurozone breakup, which would threaten the Canadian economy across the board, from business confidence, to trade, to financial markets.

The triggering of the US 'fiscal cliff' in early 2013 would lead Canada's biggest trading partner into a major recession, and would likely drag the Canadian economy down with it.

A major slowdown in China would negatively impact commodity prices, hurting Canadian port volumes.

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