Belledune NB –The Belledune Port Authority (BPA) bucks the trend of global decreases in bulk shipments, seeing ten (10) vessels and over 274,000mt of cargo being handled in the month of November.
According to the Baltic Dry Index and Globe and Mail, freight rates for bulk cargo ships have recently hit its lowest point in its thirty-year history. The Port of Belledune is pleased to announce that this trend hasn’t been an issue.
“Activity wise, this has been the best month the Port has ever seen,” states President & CEO of the BPA, Rayburn Doucett. “Not only have we had our highest calling for vessels and cargo movement, we also had what we call a ‘full house’, seeing four vessels in at one time for a maximum capacity! To have this kind of traffic at the Port while shippers in the rest of the world are complaining about a decrease is proof of the efforts made by the Port’s marketing team, lead by Director of Marketing Jenna MacDonald, as well as the hard work and efficiency of our stevedore’s, Eastern Canada Stevedoring.”
Terminal 3, operated by Eastern Canada Stevedoring (ECS), stevedores for the BPA, also had an extraordinary month with 9 vessels. The movement of this cargo was achieved with over more than 5500 loads including 481 woodchip trailers, and over 7000 man hours with up to 63 employees at the peak of operation. Donald Roy, General Manager of ECS, stated “This is the highest production rate per tonne we’ve achieved for loading woodchips and the highest production rate for unloading a met coke vessel. It’s rewarding to be able to say that within this accomplishment, no employee time was lost. We’re extremely proud of the efficiency and professionalism conducted by our employees.”
Mr. Doucett took this opportunity to congratulate ECS on such an outstanding month, and thank them for their continuous work with the Port’s marketing team. “Their combined efforts to develop business at the Port is a prime example of efficient team work. Together with ECS we’ve seen the development of wood chip exports at the Port, which means not only an increase in vessels and tonnage, but also manpower, contributing to the local economies in Northern New Brunswick.”
The Port of Belledune is truly on the move!Press Release-Port Bucks the Trend.pdf