New energy is being channeled into the Welland Canal by major government investments in Port Colborne and St. Catharines. In 2023 alone, the Government of Canada has invested major millions in building up new capacity at the Canal. In Port Colborne, the government is investing up to $22.7 million to repair three key wharves, part of a $45.3-million capacity-building project. And in St. Catharines, an investment of $5.2 million will develop 11 acres of land and improve port areas used for handling cargo
“It will be a benefit for the city (of Port Colborne). It will allow us to put to work land that isn’t being used right now,” says Gino Becerra, Ontario Vice-President of QSL and partner with Snider Terminals at the Port Colborne site.
The Port Colborne investment will repair Wharf 18, covering three dock sites on the west side of the Canal. The dock was decommissioned years ago due to needed repairs, said Becerra. Repairing it will allow Port Colborne to handle cruise ships that currently have to dock on the east side of the Canal, where Snider Terminals handles materials like salt.
“On the other side, there’s going to be a tourist reception centre where tourists are going to dock. It will be safer and more touristic,” Becerra said. Tourists would disembark to find a market area where they could shop and explore the community.
“Once we have inflow of tourists, restaurants will start to pop up – bars and things like that.”
Once fully developed, Becerra said Wharf 18 will feature one cruise berth and two for warehouses. He estimated the tourist area could employ 50 people, with an additional ten to 20 on the warehousing side. The work would also create spinoff jobs in the community to support the new inflow of tourism.
In St. Catharines, the work at Port Weller will improve cargo-handling areas and develop new land to support a cement trans-loading facility. The work, phase two of the Port Weller Dry Docks Cargo Terminal Project, is being funded through the National Trade Corridors Fund.
The upgrades are a boon for Heddle Marine, the drydocks’ current operator. The company is partnered with Stubbe’s Cement, the main beneficiary of the upgrades. Because Heddle manages the quay side of the property, they have a cargo handling agreement with Stubbe’s.
“We’re generating business through cargo movements,” said Ted Kirkpatrick, Heddle’s Director of Business Development and Government Relations.
“There’s a lot of land that was being underutilized that we’re going to be able to reclaim.”
The investment builds on work already done to build capacity at the site. Heddle undertook dredging on the quay side of Port Weller, expanding it to be able to handle massive Seawaymax ships. The work created a lot of material that must be removed from the site, but the benefits are clear: Ships can move to and from the shipyard more easily, and it can handle vessels with a deeper draft.
Kirkpatrick says there’s more work to be done, but Heddle is grateful that the government has invested in strengthening the Canal’s capacity.
“I think the Seaway system as a whole has more capacity to offer,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of underutilized land up and down the Canal that could be leveraged.”
This article is part of a feature series highlighting the importance and impact of the Welland Canal Corridor and the businesses that operate on and around it. This feature series is provided by the economic development offices of the Canal communities of St. Catharines, Welland, Thorold, and Port Colborne.
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