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Imports through Vancouver( pictured) and Prince Rupert rose a respective 9 % and 7.8 % in Q1. Shutterstock. com

Western Canada ports push IPI edge to grow imports from Asia

By Bill Mongelluzzo

The Western Canadian ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert are enhancing their presence in the Asia – North America trade by building on their intermodal advantages in serving the interior of North America, resulting in increased imports in the first quarter while their western US counterparts recorded a first-quarter import decline.

Containerized imports moving through Vancouver in the first quarter increased 9 % year over year, while imports in Prince Rupert grew 7.8 %, according to data from Sea-Intelligence Maritime Analysis.

Vancouver, Canada’ s largest container gateway, serves both the interior of Canada and the US Midwest with direct inland point intermodal( IPI) service. The rail passage route through the Canadian Rockies to the North American interior is at a much lower altitude than through the US Rocky Mountains, Cliff Stewart, vice president of operations for the Vancouver-Fraser Port Authority, told the Journal of Commerce.

“ It just takes a whole lot less fuel to move a train from Vancouver to Chicago than it does to move a train from either Los Angeles-Long Beach, Northern California or the Puget Sound area,” he said.

The Trump administration’ s tariffs that were levied on imports from Asia a year ago do not generally influence retailers on how to route their goods because importers

must pay the tariffs regardless of whether the containers move through a US or Canadian port, Stewart said.

But the tariffs do influence some retailers— stores that have outlets in both countries and, until now, had been shipping their Canadian-destined merchandise as a subcomponent of US shipments from common origins in Asia. The containers entered a US West Coast port, and then the Canadian freight was broken out and moved by truck into Canada.

Those big box retailers are choosing to ship their Canadian freight through Vancouver or Prince Rupert so the Canadian freight is not subject to a US duty, Stewart said.

US-destined imports declining

That’ s not to say that British Columbia ports are growing by focusing only on US-destined cargo. The port’ s records show that US-destined imports as a percentage of Vancouver’ s total import volumes have declined steadily from about 25 % in 2010 to about 8 % today, Stewart said.

Rather, the BC ports are focusing even more on attracting import and export cargo to and from Canada’ s interior.

Still, some high-volume retailers and importers of highvalue merchandise are saving money by shipping through the British Columbia ports to avoid other costs, such as the US Harbor Maintenance Tax, he said.

Vancouver has also been attracting cargo destined for the Canadian interior that was moving through Montreal and Halifax before the closure of the Red Sea route.

“ It’ s cheaper now to come through Vancouver and then rail it to central Canada,” Stewart said.

Prince Rupert is likewise experiencing steady growth this year.“ We have seen a sustained recovery in all imports compared to previous years,” the port authority said in a statement.

This is especially true compared with the first quarter of 2025, when volumes were softer as reconfigured alliances and service strings affected carriers’ arrival schedules, the port said.

28 Journal of Commerce | June 1, 2026 www. joc. com