[Saint John] Port Development

[cdnguys]

2023 TEU figures:

Halifax 546,163 (-9.2%)
Saint John 153,454 (+2.2%)

2024 Q1 TEU

Halifax 118,432 (-6.7%)
Saint John unknown but someone at port said up 25%

Total Port Tonnage 2023

Halifax 4,613,423 MT
Saint John 27,909,584 MT

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

2023 TEU figures:

Halifax 546,163 (-9.2%)
Saint John 153,454 (+2.2%)

2024 Q1 TEU

Halifax 118,432 (-6.7%)
Saint John unknown but someone at port said up 25%

Total Port Tonnage 2023

Halifax 4,613,423 MT
Saint John 27,909,584 MT

Pretty impressive numbers, Port Saint John is really catching up with Halifax in terms of containers, while the total tonnage numbers have always been impressive. If I recall correctly, 800,000+ TEU was listed as a long term possibility one day, and really, they doesn't seem that far out of reach, but Halifax might have a hard time reaching if we continue to compete with them like this.

It makes total sense why shipping companies would pick Saint John over Haliax. Our port is far more strategically located compared to Halifax's Port, as we're closer to the entire US Eastern Seaboard, and we've got 3 major railway connections including the only railway connection from a Canadian Port all the down to Mexico.

1 million TEU could be possible one day... imagine how much extra room there will be if AIM does in fact get the boot!

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

From Mayor Reardon's Facebook page via our Regional Growth Agency

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by sailor734

Such a huge change in one lifetime. When I was a kid growing up by Beaconsfield School in the late 60's the whole west side was piers and warehouses. Ships were small enough that some could berth in a slip one behind the other. The grain elevators were still there as was the customs and immigration hall (the CP Empress liners had only stopped sailing a few years before. The whole port area was 1930's vintage (rebuilt after the big fire). CFBC radio would announce every morning how many longshoremen were needed .....so many 4 man gangs, 6 man gangs, liftjack operators and checkers etc etc. Cargo was on pallets, bales or in wooden crates and the ships all had derricks. Ships would be in port for days being unloaded or loaded. Much bigger crews too. You'd often see them uptown shopping.

The port would be full in the winter with every berth taken and ships often waiting at anchor for space. I can still remember all the ship's horns sounding at midnight on New Years Eve.

All gone within a few decades.

I'd love to see some photos / footage of the port in that era!

[sailor734]

A few good photos here

https://pier21.ca/research/immigrati...-of-saint-john

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by bridgeoftea

I'd love to see some photos / footage of the port in that era!

My dad used to work on some of the ships that brought in flour from the Caribbean... was in the late 60's or 1970's, he was young as 14 working on those ships, as they could get into the smaller areas on the holds of those ships easier than the adult men... which would never be allowed today.

My grandfather was a CP policeman at the port and they lived on the west side... we have a bunch of super 8 film from back then. I've been meaning to get around to viewing them, but I don't have a working projector, and those film digitizers are a bit too pricey.

Here's from pics (probably shoulda just did a IMGUR slideshow, but oh well )


1960


1960


1960


1960


1967


1968


1968


1970


There's some really amazing, high quality aerial photographs of the port from even further back, and can be seen in much greater details than these below, but that part of the NB Museum site is down right now.



Here's one in low quality i believe from the 30's or early 40's.

I'll try and access the full quality images later and post them on the main Canada forum in the Canadian Skylines of the Past thread. I posted one from 1929 in there recently, if you want to have a look.

Also, RIP to Bob Boudreau... he took many amazing pics of Saint John from the 1960's and onwards. He passed away earlier this year.

[sailor734]

Great pics! Thanks for posting.

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

My dad used to work on some of the ships that brought in sugar, iirc, from the Caribbean... was in the mid 60's, and I think he said he was as young as 12 working on those ships, as they could get into the smaller areas of the ship easier than the adult men... Would never be allowed today.

My grandfather was a CP policeman at the port and they lived on the west side... we have a bunch of super 8 film from back then. I've been meaning to get around to viewing them, but I don't have a working projector, and those film digitizers are a bit too pricey.

Here's from pics (probably shoulda just did a IMGUR slideshow, but oh well )


1960


1960


1960


1960


1967


1968


1968


1970


There's some really amazing, high quality aerial photographs of the port from even further back, and can be seen in much greater details than these below, but that part of the NB Museum site is down right now.



Here's one in low quality i believe from the 30's or early 40's.

I'll try and access the full quality images later and post them on the main Canada forum in the Canadian Skylines of the Past thread. I posted one from 1929 in there recently, if you want to have a look.

Also, RIP to Bob Boudreau... he took many amazing pics of Saint John from the 1960's and onwards.

A crazy transformation especially on the uptown side. It might be a slow transition but it's differently had a lot of transition. Thank you for the photos!

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by bridgeoftea

A crazy transformation especially on the uptown side. It might be a slow transition but it's differently had a lot of transition. Thank you for the photos!

What's even crazier is how Uptown looked BEFORE those pics from the 60's. The Custom's House... what a loss.



and don't get me going about the ferry.

[sailor734]

What was so cool about that era was that in many places the city came right to the harbour's edge. No chain link security fencing or hundreds of feet of asphalt between the water and public space. The docks were living ,breathing things awash with activity and people.

I agree that the custom house was perhaps one of the greatest architectural losses in Saint John's recent history.

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

What's even crazier is how Uptown looked BEFORE those pics from the 60's. The Custom's House... what a loss.



and don't get me going about the ferry.

Interesting to note that the spire of the church (I'm guessing trinity Anglican church) isn't visible in one of the images and looks to have scaffolding around it in the other.

The customs house building is such a huge loss, could have been the Museum these days.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by sailor734

I agree that the custom house was perhaps one of the greatest architectural losses in Saint John's recent history.

I think the old passenger rail station was also a comparable loss.

I have a vague recollection of being in the rail station from sometime in the mid 1960s. I was a child at the time, and my mother and I were visiting my sister and brother in law. For some reason they picked us up in Saint John (they lived in Centreville, and usually they picked us up in Juniper Junction). In any event, I remember being very impressed by the station.

[sailor734]

My parents took us to Expo67 and we went on the overnight CP train from Union station.

Even back then they knew passenger rail service was dying in Canada and they wanted my sister and I to have the experience of an overnight train.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by sailor734

My parents took us to Expo67 and we went on the overnight CP train from Union station.

Even back then they knew passenger rail service was dying in Canada and they wanted my sister and I to have the experience of an overnight train.

I went to Expo 67 by train too. The train took the CNR mainline rather than the route up the Matapedia, and I have a vivid memory of that long trestle bridge up by Grand Falls.

[Pugsley]

Originally Posted by bridgeoftea

The customs house building is such a huge loss, could have been the Museum these days.

I actually, for shits and giggles, did some research on that building and got ahold of the original floor plans. It would have made a great hotel redevelopment. I still think you could reconstruct it as a hotel but a more modern built structure - keeping the iconic look and heritage-defining elements. It would be such an asset on the waterfront as a boutique luxury hotel. So sad.

Oh well, if anyone has $50-70M, call me. LOL

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by Pugsley

I actually, for shits and giggles, did some research on that building and got ahold of the original floor plans. It would have made a great hotel redevelopment. I still think you could reconstruct it as a hotel but a more modern built structure - keeping the iconic look and heritage-defining elements. It would be such an asset on the waterfront as a boutique luxury hotel. So sad.

Oh well, if anyone has $50-70M, call me. LOL

You can still see some of the stone carvings that Gordon Chittick saved if you hike the Sheldon Pt trail in the Irving Nature Park.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...park-1.5139929

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I went to Expo 67 by train too. The train took the CNR mainline rather than the route up the Matapedia, and I have a vivid memory of that long trestle bridge up by Grand Falls.

I can remember how cool I thought it was when we came back to our room and the lounge chairs had been turned into beds.....that and having breakfast in the dining car coming into Montreal.

[J81]

Those are fantastic pics! Thanks for sharing. Cant help but think we've regressed in some ways.

[sailor734]

Interesting to see box cars right up alongside the ship in one of those photos. Seems moving cargo between rail and ship was just as important back then.

Passengers too. I can remember my dad talking about the "boat trains".... passenger rail from Montreal that stopped right on the piers. Passengers stepped off the passenger railcar and directly onto a liner's boarding gangway