


About the Port
Port Windsor is located on the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway System, one of the world’s most efficient deep draft waterways, and is on the Detroit River opposite Detroit, Michigan. The Port is 993 kms (617 miles) from Montreal and includes over 21.2 kms (13 miles) of shoreline encompassing marine terminals, parkland, and beautiful residential neighbourhoods. The industrial/marine facilities are concentrated in the western portion of the Port.
Port Windsor is the third largest Canadian Great Lakes port in terms of shipments. Cargos include a wide range of products such as aggregates, salt, grain, lumber, steel, petroleum, vehicles and heavy lift equipment. Over the past decade, shipments of goods through the Port increased 38% from 4.2 million tonnes to 5.8 million tonnes (not including discontinued rail barges). Growth has paralleled the buoyant Windsor and mid-west U.S. economies.
The City of Windsor, Ontario has a population of over 200,000 and forms the largest urban centre in the Windsor-Essex region which has a population of nearly 400,000. The Windsor-Essex area is one of Canada’s largest manufacturing centres with a diverse range of manufacturing activity including motor vehicles and parts, machining and tooling, food and beverage processing, and chemicals and pharmaceuticals. In recent years with the development of a major casino operation, Windsor-Essex has become a major tourism destination.
What do we do?
Advantages of Ship Transportation
1 Ship (25,000 MT) = 225 Rail Cars = 870 Trucks
Without shipping, life would be different. We would have limited access to a lot of the food we consume, pharmaceuticals, clothes and consumer goods, as around 90 percent of world trade is transported by ship. Around 1.7 million seafarers make it possible every day. Because of them, and the over 61,000 ships we are served by, we do not run out of what we need.
Watch the video, Ships Make The World Go, created by BIMCO (https://www.bimco.org/), an NGO serving the shipping industry worldwide.
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Did You Know?
The Windsor Port Authority is a Federal agency created in 1999 under the provisions of the Canada Marine Act. Prior to the creation of the Port Authority, the port had been administered by the Windsor Harbour Commission which was also a Federal entity. In 1998 the Canada Marine Act was enacted which created the Port Authority structure to combine all the major ports under one Act and to modernize and commercialize port operations.
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Did You Know?
The Port Authority is governed by a Board of local residents: 1 appointed by each of the Federal, Provincial and Municipal governments and 4 by the Federal Government in consultation with local port users. -
Did You Know?
There are 17 port authorities in Canada, and Windsor ranks approximately 10th in terms of total annual tonnage. There are 4 port authorities in the Great Lakes Region: Hamilton-Oshawa, Thunder Bay, Toronto and Windsor.