Quebec City’s technologically advanced, deep-water container terminal to boost innovation in region’s maritime sector

The Port of Quebec’s planned $775-million deep-water container terminal will be a “cornerstone” of a new global ecosystem for innovation in logistics and maritime transportation technologies, say the project’s proponents.

The Quebec Port Authority announced June 22 it had signed agreements related to its intermodal container terminal project, called “Laurentia,” with seven major partners from the maritime transportation and research world.

“This will be the most technologically advanced container terminal in North America when it opens,” Don Krusel, executive director of the Laurentia project, said in an interview. “That forms the basis of this whole innovation ecosystem that’s going to be enhanced and developed in and around that piece of infrastructure in Quebec City.”

The agreements with strategic partners of international scope confirm "the essential role of the Quebec City region as a hub for intelligent intermodal transport at the confluence of a maritime network connecting the main international markets,” Mario Girard, president and CEO of the Quebec Port Authority, said in a statement.

The strategic alliance links together Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports (the world’s largest container terminal operator), the Port of Rotterdam (Europe’s largest seaport) in the Netherlands, CN (Canadian National), Port XL, the Quebec International economic development agency, Université Laval, Quebec City and the new logistics services supply chain associated with the new container terminal.

“We see great synergies occurring. There’s a lot of excitement about connecting the scientific community with the ‘real’ world.” - Don Krusel, Executive Director, Laurentia project

Laurentia and the new Quebec centre for global maritime and logistics innovation will attract researchers and startups in the sector, the Quebec Port Authority said. Hutchison Ports, with an international network of 52 ports in 27 countries, will help connect and promote Quebec-based technologies and innovation enterprises. Hutchison Ports and CN will operate the new container terminal.

Krusel said almost all the terminal’s operations will be robotic and remotely controlled, from the 20-storey-tall cranes that lift the huge containers off ships onto the dock to equipment that moves the containers around the terminal.

The innovation zone will benefit from the presence of Université Laval and research chairs recognized for advances in the fields of artificial intelligence, photonics, supply chain optimization, coastal ecosystems and green technologies in maritime transportation, Krusel said. “We see great synergies occurring. There’s a lot of excitement about connecting the scientific community with the ‘real’ world.”

More than $100 million in economic spinoffs expected

As part of the agreements, Port XL, headquartered in Rotterdam and the world’s first port and maritime accelerator focused on connecting innovators and startups with industry, has opened its first North American branch in the Quebec City region.

“In addition to hosting some of the greenest and most technologically advanced facilities in the world, Laurentia will generate more than $100 million in economic spinoffs each year for the Greater Quebec area,” Quebec City Mayor Régis Labeaume said.

Hutchison Ports, CN and the Port of Quebec are jointly investing $775 million in Laurentia, which will open a new maritime highway between Southeast Asia and the Port of Quebec, along with improving access to traditional markets in Europe and the Mediterranean.

The project will create 7,000 direct, indirect and spinoff jobs during construction from 2021 to 2024, and more than 1,000 direct and spinoff jobs once in operation, according to the Quebec Port Authority.

Laurentia, to be built on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River and connect to road and rail networks, involves extending the existing wharf eastward by 610 metres in order to operate a deep-water (16 metres deep) container ship terminal. The 31.7-hectare project includes the construction of a new berth and a retaining dike to allow the development of an additional 17 hectares of backshore space.

Laurentia is currently being reviewed by the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC).

Krusel said the project will go through its final public consultation period once the IAAC issues a draft report, expected this October. A final report then will go to the federal minister of environment and climate change for a decision that would include any conditions required to mitigate environmental impacts.

“We hope to have that decision by February 2021,” Krusel said. “And we hope to be starting construction in May 2021, with operations expected to start mid-2024.”

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