Canada will provide up to C$254m ($181m) towards a C$463m ($329.4m) expansion of the Saint John trade corridor in New Brunswick, covering port, rail and road infrastructure, according to a Transport Canada statement.
The federal contribution will come from Canada’s C$5bn ($3.56bn) Trade Diversification Corridors Fund. New Brunswick will provide C$116.5m ($82.9m), while project partners will jointly invest another C$92.5m ($65.8m).
The programme involves the Saint John Port Authority, New Brunswick Southern Railway, New Brunswick’s Regional Development Corporation and the provincial Department of Transportation and Infrastructure.
The investment is intended to lift Port Saint John’s annual container capacity to between 850,000 and 1m TEU. Marine works include widening the main channel through dredging, upgrading breakwaters and other infrastructure, and expanding and modernising port warehouses.
A new 2,787-square-metre Canada Border Services Agency container examination facility is also planned.
The dredging and marine works are expected to increase high-water tidal windows for fully laden, deeper-draught ships by at least 30%. Port Saint John chief executive Craig Bell Estabrooks said widening and deepening the channel would also allow two-way vessel traffic at high tide.
Rail works include upgrading 103 km of New Brunswick Southern Railway track with continuously welded rail, increasing mainline speeds to as much as 64 km/h and expanding freight capacity.
The shoreline at Bayshore Rail Terminal will also be stabilised to protect the port’s only rail access, while the Simms Corner intersection will be rebuilt to separate road and rail traffic.
“Canada cannot take access to any single market for granted,” Canadian Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said.
The Saint John scheme is the first project to receive funding through the Trade Diversification Corridors Fund, introduced in Canada’s 2025 budget. It follows more than C$76m ($54.1m) previously committed through the National Trade Corridors Fund and completion of the C$247m ($175.8m) West Side Modernization Project in late 2025.
Port Saint John is a federally governed port authority in Saint John, New Brunswick. It handled a record 239,364 TEU in 2025, up 29.4% from 184,879 TEU in 2024.
