The Port of Montreal is a leader among the container ports serving the North Atlantic market, and the international port closest to North America's industrial heartland.

The port's containerized cargo is made up of a wide variety of products reflecting the industrial mix of Central Canada and the U.S. Midwest and Northeast.

The Port of Montreal enjoys waves of success on the container cargo market. It is the most important cargo category overall (representing approximately 50 per cent of total traffic) and the sector that generates the greatest economic spin-offs. Moreover, it provides the best prospects for the future.

Containerized cargo traffic continues to enjoy the strongest growth at the port. It has grown at an average annual rate of 5.3 per cent for the past 10 years.

It was in 2000 that the Port of Montreal first handled more than one million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent) containers in a single year. This was one of many milestones for a port that handled its very first container in 1967.

Containerization has allowed the Port of Montreal to fully exploit the benefits of its strategic location on the doorstep of North America's industrial heartland, and to assume the role of a hub within a fully-integrated and seamless intermodal system.

Containerships providing regular service between Montreal and Northern Europe and the Mediterranean call at the following major ports:

• Antwerp in Belgium;
• Felixstowe, Liverpool and Thamesport in the United Kingdom;
• Rotterdam in the Netherlands;
• Hamburg and Bremerhaven in Germany;
• Le Havre and Marseilles-Fos in France;
• Cadiz and Valencia in Spain;
• Genoa, Livorno, Naples and Gioia Tauro in Italy;
• Lisbon in Portugal.

Montreal is a bustling hub of domestic and international trade, with a strong and constantly-evolving industrial base. It is located in the most industrialized region on the continent with some 100 million Canadian and American consumers. Massive manufacturing centres are found along its water, rail and roadways.

Approximately half of the port's containerized cargo traffic is destined for, or comes from, the Canadian market, mainly Quebec and Ontario. The other half is to or from the U.S. market, mainly the Midwest (Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio) and the Northeast (New England and New York State).

The prominence of the Port of Montreal in the U.S. market dates back to the early 1980s; it is therefore fair to say that the Port of Montreal was a precursor to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The port's success in this vast market reaffirms Montreal's position as a unique gateway.

Over the years, the Montreal Port Authority has undertaken several expansion and modernization projects aimed at processing more efficiently the ever-increasing number of containers passing through the port.

The Port of Montreal's four modern container terminals cover an area of approximately 80 hectares. They feature 14 computerized dockside gantry cranes with lifting capacities ranging from 30 to 60 tonnes, yard gantry cranes and other equipment for handling containerized cargo. Mobile cranes can also load and unload containers at several other berths. Overall, the port has 18 container-handling berths with a total length of 3,000 metres (almost 2 miles).