Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority


The Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority is a port authority which owns and operates ports in the cities of Hamilton and Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The Authority was created in 2019 when the Hamilton Port Authority and the Oshawa Port Authority were merged by the Government of Canada. The amalgamated port authority replaced the Oshawa Port Authority created in 2012 and the Hamilton Port Authority which succeeded the Hamilton Harbour Commission in 2001. The Port of Hamilton, located in Hamilton Harbour, is Ontario's largest and among the busiest ports in Canada.
One of 17 Canadian port authorities created by the federal government, Hamilton-Oshawa derives its mandate from the Canada Marine Act.

History

On April 1, 1912, an Act of Parliament created the Hamilton Harbour Commissioners and on May 1, 1912, the first three Harbour Commissioners, George J. Guy, Hugh S. Wallace and William J. Clark took their oaths of office.
The Port of Hamilton grew throughout the 20th century, in service to Hamilton's two major steel producers, Steel Company of Canada, and Dominion Steel Castings Company, as well as Hamilton's robust manufacturing economy.
The long-awaited completion of the Welland Ship Canal in 1932 brought a tremendous boost in shipping to Hamilton industry. Anticipating the arrival of larger Great Lakes vessels and ocean freighters, the Commissioners had already widened and deepened the canal entrance from Lake Ontario into Hamilton Harbour. In order to accommodate the huge ore and coal ships which now had direct access to Harbour waters, the Steel Company of Canada and the Hamilton By-Product Coke Ovens constructed larger docks. The result: between 1929 and 1934 total tonnage in the harbour doubled from one to two million tonnes annually, making Hamilton the fourth-busiest port in the country, behind Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto.
When the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, the first ship travelling up the new system berthed in Hamilton. Cargo tonnage after the first year of Seaway operation was higher in Hamilton than at any other Canadian or American Port on the Great Lakes.
The Hamilton Harbour Police was formed in 1921 to provide policing services for the Hamilton Harbour Commission in Hamilton. It was disbanded in 1986 and its duties were transferred to the Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police.

Mandate

Under the Canada Marine Act and the port authority's letters patent it is tasked with facilitating the regional economy and managing port lands in an environmentally and financially sustainable way to support the regional and national economy.

Facilities

Port of Hamilton

The Port of Hamilton houses multiple terminal operations providing storage and transloading of dry bulk and liquid bulk commodities, breakbulk and project cargo. The port is served by two stevedores: Federal Marine Terminals and Great Lakes Stevedoring. It is also serviced by two Class-1 North American railways: Canadian National and Canadian Pacific.
The Port of Hamilton is divided between the west harbour on piers 8 to 15 which house among other facilities a large fuel depot, an agri-food cluster on pier 10 and the east harbour on piers 22 to 29 which have multiple agri-food terminals. The port has a grain storage capacity of 100,000 tonnes, a liquid bulk capacity of 200,000 tonnes spread across 125 liquid bulk tanks, 2.5 million square feet of warehouse space, 15 wharves and 8.4 km of St. Lawrence Seaway maximum depth dock walls.

Port of Oshawa

The Port of Oshawa is serviced by Oshawa Stevedores and has a rail spur to the CN mainline a kilometre or two north of the harbour. The port is divided between a West Wharf and a St. Lawrence Seaway depth East Wharf which handles many of the same commodities Hamilton does.
In comparison to the Port of Hamilton the Port of Oshawa is quite small. The port's storage facilities include 75,000 square feet of warehouse space, a liquid bulk capacity of about 25,000 tonnes and a dry bulk capacity of 60,000 tonnes in 5 domes and a grain silo.
Shortly after amalgamation of the two ports, HOPA Ports CEO Ian Hamilton signalled "dredging, building a ring road, reinforcing the dock wall ... a second berth so two ships can be unloaded at the same time" are critical short-term investments for long term growth in Oshawa.

Cargo

The Port of Hamilton handles a diversified mix of cargoes including:
  • Asphalt
  • Biofuels
  • Bitumen
  • Cement clinker
  • Coal & coke
  • Dry & liquid fertilizer
  • Edible oils
  • Grain, pulses & beans
  • Gypsum
  • Iron ore
  • Petroleum
  • Potash
  • Rum
  • Salt
  • Sand & gravel
  • Scrap metal
  • Sugar
In 2006 the Hamilton Port Authority handled 10,282,978 tonnes of steel industry inputs and products which amounted to 79% of the port's tonnage. From 2006 to 2018 the share of tonnage related to the steel industry steadily declined but began stabilizing around 2013 in the 6 to 7 million tonne range. In 2018 the port handled 7,185,596 tonnes of steel industry product which represented 61% of total port tonnage.
During the decline in the steel industry after the Great Recession of 2008 the port diversified and has seen significant growth in the agri-food industry which has necessitated the construction of a number of food processing and storage facilities in the port. From 2006 to 2018 agricultural products passing through the port grew from 492,272 tonnes to 3,512,444 tonnes. Agri-food has grown from 3–4% of port tonnage in 2006 to 31% of total port traffic in 2023.
As population growth in the Greater Golden Horseshoe continues in the coming decades the port could see significant growth in agri-food business. In June 2019 Sucro Sourcing opened the first sugar refinery in Canada since 1958. The plant is located on Pier 10 and imports inputs from sugarcane producing regions. Plans for a second Sucro refinery were announced in 2024. The second refinery has the capacity to refine one million tonnes of sugar a year.
A 2010 study by Martin and Associates revealed that cargo transiting the Port of Hamilton is connected to $6 billion in economic activity and 38,000 jobs in the province of Ontario.

Tonnage

Hamilton Cargo by Type

While comparatively small components of the Port of Hamilton's shipping business, the port has seen significant declines in its breakbulk and liquid bulk business from highs in the early 2000s. Partial recovery has occurred in the breakbulk category with relatively consistent annual increases from 2009 to 2018 but liquid bulk tonnage in 2018 was 62.5% of what it was in 2006.

Expanding International Market Share

Reflecting decline in some domestic industry and the increased importance of international markets, overseas shipping has represented a greater share of Hamilton's shipping business reaching 20 year highs from 2014–2018.

HOPA Ports Annual Cargo Tonnage

In its first year of amalgamation with HOPA Ports the Port of Oshawa had its best reported year since at least 2007 handling 575,000 tonnes.

Cruise ships

Cruise ships have been an on and off feature of Hamilton over the years. From 2010 to at least 2012 Blount Small Ship Adventures made multiple visits annually on their cruise between New York City and Toronto with the MV Grand Mariner. In 2020 the Great Lakes Cruising Company ran a cruise between Chicago and Hamilton on the MV Victory I.

Great Lakes maritime trade

The Port of Hamilton is the primary commercial port in the Golden Horseshoe. In 2017 the Golden Horseshoe's other federally governed commercial ports handled less than 3 million tonnes combined as the Port of Toronto handled 2,172,750 tonnes of cargo while the Port of Oshawa handled 408,567 tonnes. By tonnage Hamilton and Oshawa combined are about 6 times the size of the Port of Toronto. Hamilton is also the busiest port in Ontario and the 7th busiest port on the Great Lakes. In 2017 Hamilton was also the 7th busiest Canadian port authority behind Vancouver, Montreal, Saint John, Quebec City, Prince Rupert and Sept-Iles.
Like many major Great Lakes ports Hamilton is a bulk and breakbulk port. It imports/exports large project cargo components such as windmill blades and handles salt, agri-food commodities, fertilizers, fuels and assorted inputs and finished product for the steel industry. In comparison to the Port of Thunder Bay, Ontario's second busiest port, Hamilton is much more reliant on the steel industry than Thunder Bay which relies on agricultural commodities from the Prairies. In 2018 approximately 60% of Hamilton's tonnage was steel industry inputs and products and 85% of Thunder Bay's tonnage was Prairie grains.
As a freshwater, regional port still largely dominated by one industry, Hamilton does not rank with major North American ports such as Houston, Long Beach–Los Angeles, Vancouver, New York–New Jersey, the southern Mississippi River ports and even major inland ports like the Twin Ports in Duluth. In 2017 it had a similar volume to the smallest of the top 50 busiest ports in the United States.

Busiest Great Lakes ports

PortTonnageYearProv/State
1.Duluth-Superior30,277,9952017Minnesota-Wisconsin
2.Chicago16,423,6512017Illinois
3.Two Harbors15,431,5242017Minnesota
4.Detroit13,266,6292017Michigan
5.Cleveland13,147,3502017Ohio
6.Indiana-Burns Harbor12,216,8002017Indiana
7.Hamilton11,628,3182018Ontario
8.Toledo9,619,7232017Ohio
9.Mount Vernon9,118,8962017Indiana
10.Thunder Bay8,734,9312018Ontario