The Canadian government is investing up to C$51.2 million (US$37.5 million) in 19 digital infrastructure projects to bolster Canada’s global trade presence, including some projects that address the flow of container movements.

Funding will come from the National Corridors Trade Fund, a C$4.6 billion program to make domestic supply chains more efficient, bolster infrastructure resiliency and reduce trade barriers, among other objectives. The 11-year program will wrap up funding on March 31, 2028; so far, C$4.1 billion has been committed to projects since 2017.

Projects include:

• PSA Halifax’s container terminals digitalization project at the Port of Halifax in Nova Scotia aims to develop technology and software to improve the fluidity and efficiency of container operations (total project cost of C$7.5 million, with a federal contribution of C$3.7 million).
• The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s gateway optimization and forecasting project at the Port of Vancouver in British Columbia seeks to increase capacity and operational efficiencies at the port (total project cost of C$24.9 million, with a federal contribution of C$9.3 million).
• The OEC Group seeks to expand and improve access to its next-generation transportation management system, which aims to provide end-to-end shipment visibility (total project cost of C$14.2 million, with a federal contribution of C$6.8 million).
• The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association’s WaterfrontWorks project aims to address the reliability of waterfront labour supply so that Western Canada ports are better equipped to respond to cargo diversionsC and reduce vessel times (total project of C$4.4 million, with a federal contribution of C$2.2 million).

A complete list of the recently awarded projects is available here.

“Strengthening supply chains is essential to reducing trade barriers and strengthens Canada’s international trade performance. These investments demonstrate Canada’s commitment to stronger supply chains,” said Vance Badawey, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, in a 31 May release from government agency Transport Canada.