Canada’s traditional marine strategy has been dominated by security issues (fishing rights, smuggling and in-shore transport) and defence. Few of Canada’s leading ports like Toronto, Churchill or Quebec City are centred on international trade, especially container trade outside the North American triad. For the West Coast of Canada, there is a century-old link to Asia, dating from the ships run by Canadian Pacific to Yokohama, Hong Kong and Shanghai. More recently, the startling rise of the Asian economies " first with Japan a generation ago, then Southeast Asia and the Asian Tigers, and now China " represents a tectonic shift in the global economy. China, with over a billion people by itsel
Global maritime shipping is itself being transformed " bigger ships, more cargo in containers, bigger and more productive ports and terminals, and new forms of inter-modal transport. This integrated package forms one element of the global supply chain, linking countries around the world on ocean transport routes and opening new job and trade opportunities. But this transportation supply chain must be linked directly to the second global supply chain, which is company based. From Walmart to Toyota, McCain Foods to Target, global firms are integrating their supply chains as they enter new markets and source components and parts, process them and deliver finished goods, on time, to their custom
