The Port of Corner Brook has always played a pivotal role in the economic growth of Western Newfoundland and Southern Labrador. The Corporation's projections show that the Port can become increasingly important as a commercial distribution hub, especially with its excellent highway interface connecting to the rest of the Province.
Additional trade linkages with mainland Canada are anticipated in the months and years ahead. Emerging oil and gas play on the West Coast, construction aggregates export, and further significant tourism potential are all considered to be realistic projects worthy of support from the Corner Brook Port Corporation in the short term.
The Corner Brook Port area is comparatively large - running from Meadows Point on the North Shore of the Bay of Islands, through Corner Brook's waterfront (Brake's Cove and Seal Head) to about the mid-point in the Bay of Islands South Shore - a distance of about twenty-five (25) miles. The area is further divided into the inner harbour (the Port) and the outer harbour.
Opportunities for Growth and Expansion
Ocean freight in Corner Brook is handled in two ways - over private wharves (e.g. Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Limited, Barry's Seafood's Inc., Ultramar, Irving oil, Imperial Oil, etc.) and what was previously the public wharf - the Transport Canada facility at what is known locally as Seal Head.
In recent years, there have been significant increases in freight traffic through Corner Brook from the Northern peninsula and Southern Labrador. The export of fish products is moving more-and-more into refrigerated containers - which can be shipped out of Corner Brook directly to the customers elsewhere in North America, and overseas. The Trans-Labrador Highway continues to be developed, it is very likely that the level of ocean shipping trade will increase even further in the short to medium term future. Corner Brook is the first major year-round shipping port on the routing from North to South in Eastern North America.
