Quebec and Ottawa are each investing $164 million to build a new wharf and make other changes to expand capacity.
The port of Bécancour must expand to meet the needs of the Vallée de la transition energétique, which is currently being developed.
Quebec and Ottawa announced, on Monday, investments of $164 million each that will help build a new wharf, expand two others, add new infrastructure and expand storage areas.
The Port of Bécancour is one of the few port facilities owned by both the federal and provincial governments, with ports generally being exclusively federal property and jurisdiction.
The president and general manager of the Société du parc industriel et portuaire de Bécancour (SPIPB), Donald Olivier, explained that the port sees around 180 arrivals and departures per year, for a volume of 3.5 million tonnes of various goods. “We need the new wharf to increase all this and we can talk about a 15, 20, 30 per cent increase in traffic over the years following the commissioning of the new platform.”
This commissioning is planned for 2028 after the construction work, which will follow environmental impact studies. Olivier said with the new battery sector, the port of Bécancour should serve as a hub for both finished products and raw materials.
Federal Transport Minister Anita Anand said that this expansion project will create 6,000 jobs, including 3,000 direct jobs linked, among other things, to the construction of new facilities and the extension of those already in place, and 3,000 indirect jobs.
At her side, the Quebec Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy Christine Fréchette welcomed the desire of all stakeholders to develop the potential of the port and the industrial park. “We are building a vision, a complete ecosystem. We are in the process of setting up a value chain that goes from the extraction of critical and strategic minerals to the recycling of batteries,” she said.