Infrastructure Bank to work with Port of Montreal on financing new terminal

The Port of Montreal is already the largest port in Eastern Canada. It handled about 1.7 million containers last year. PHOTO: Canada Infrastructure Bank

MONTREAL—The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) has pledged to work with the Montreal Port Authority on financing for a new container terminal in Contrecoeur, just downriver from the Montreal city limits.

The crown corporation said it signed a memorandum of understanding with the port authority Aug. 14 that pushes the major expansion project closer to reality.

“The Canada Infrastructure Bank is proud to contribute its expertise to the development of the port terminal project in Contrecoeur to maximize its commercial value and attract private investors, Pierre Lavallée, the CIB’s president and CEO, said in a release.

Already the largest port in Eastern Canada, Montreal handled about 1.7 million containers last year. The addition of the new terminal in Contrecoeur would add capacity for more than one million containers.

The project would be a major boon for the province’s construction industry, creating up to 5,000 jobs over four or five years of work.

The deal falls short of a full endorsement of the project, however, with the CIB agreeing to join the planning process and work toward an investment, but not committing funds until conducting more due diligence.

The estimate for the major construction project currently sits at between $750 million and $950 million.

—With a file from La Presse Canadienne