BC ports handle minimal U.S.-bound cargo

A commissioner with a U.S. agency probing whether Canadian ports on the West Coast are luring lucrative cargo business away from their American counterparts says the problem may be minimal.

The Canadian government and other officials have told the Federal Maritime Commission that over a period of 10 years, only 2.5 per cent of U.S.-bound cargo was imported through Canadian ports, the agency’s representative said.

But the matter has been a simmering trade irritant between the U.S. and Canada ever since a pair of senators from Washington state complained that Canadians are unfairly subsidizing the diversion of cargo ships away from their American competitors, particularly in Prince Rupert.

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