Big City on big river with a port and no Piggyback Terminal? Did it used to have one and will it get one in the future?
Quebec City is not a container port. Halifax is a container port but it struggles to compete. Container traffic for Eastern Canada goes to Montreal.
We pickup steel at the port of Quebec City... as far as I know they do not handle containers. IMHO there's a real opportunity for someone with deep pockets. Across the river from Quebec is Levis and a rail line that has been unused for almost a decade, the Quebec Central which cut through scenic rural Quebec to Sherbrooke. From Sherbrooke shipments can go to the US via the Atlantic and Saint Lawrence or the newly formed Central Maine and Quebec.
I really don't understand why Quebec and/or Levis didn't become a major port... The St Lawrence freezes over part way in the winter, and a port further downstream at Levis/Quebec would have reduce the need for ice breakers and their resultant cost. IMHO the backers of the Quebec Central missed a golden opportunity some 50 to 100 years ago. The port at Levis existed but its promoters weren't nearly as successful as those who promoted the port of Montreal. In a nutshell... Quebec City SHOULD have been an intermodal port but I guess lacked the vision to make it happen.
There was at one time a container port in Quebec City, at Wolfe Cove. I think it was mostly used in the winter when the St.Lawrence River closed to navigation. But in more recent times, courtesy government icebreakers (and maybe milder winters) Montreal has essentially become a year-round port.
If the containers are going to the US eastern seaboard the preferred route would be by ship all the way. That will be faster and far cheaper than going south from Quebec City by rail. Containers destined for the USA through Montreal head west towards Chicago.
John
Quebec City/Levis could have been competitive with Saint John or even Halifax for containers going West. Quebec south to Sherbrooke.. south to an American rail connection and then west from there. Or south to Sherbrooke and then west on CM&Q to Montreal, and west from there.
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