A natural deep-water harbour // Welcome to Cape Size vessels!

The Port of Québec is one of VERY few true natural deep-water harbours located along the St. Lawrence and the eastern seaboard of the US.  This exceptional characteristic allows the various areas of the Port to welcome Panamax and even Cape Size-type vessels.  A single cargo of 75,000, 100,000 and up to 150,000 tonnes can thus be loaded onto or unloaded from a vessel!  This strategic advantage means that shippers wishing to move goods through the Port can enjoy the economies of scale available when goods are transported in large volumes.

As a transhipment port, Quebec offers a perfect complement to the activities of many other ports or industries located all around the Great Lakes.  Thus, Quebec receives bulk cargo on lakers that is then transhipped to deep-draught ocean-going vessels and vice versa.

The average size of the cargo vessels that carry the 6 billion tonnes of cargo that are exchanged worldwide by sea annually is constantly increasing.  For this reason, deep water is one of the greatest marketing advantages that a port like Quebec can offer the shippers and shipping lines that are its clients.

Open year-round // On an ongoing basis!

It is now more than 50 years since commercial shipping became a reality on the St. Lawrence in both winter and summer and around the clock.  This was not only made possible but also became safe and effective thanks to a number of services including those provided by the Canadian Coast Guard and the various pilotage corporations active on the St. Lawrence.  Thousands of vessels travel up and down the River every year.

Thanks to the excellent record it has set for safety each year, the marine industry on the St. Lawrence has confirmed its reputation as one of the safest and most efficient waterways in the world!  The environmental and social benefits of marine transportation no longer need to be listed.  Thus, by further developing short-haul marine transportation between port cities located along the St. Lawrence and around the Great Lakes, the port community is making a positive contribution to environmental quality.

Fully intermodal // From one mode to another to optimize freight transportation!

The Port of Québec provides direct access to the major rail systems and to a highway network leading directly to the major urban centres in the eastern US and the Midwest.  The result is a fully intermodal uncongested transportation system.  Each day, the rail system serving the port of Quebec transports food and feed grain, alumina, nickel and other ores and concentrates, chemicals, petroleum products and other goods.  Tens of thousands of rail cars required for the activities of the terminal operators use the networks of Canadian National. Canadian Pacific and the Quebec-Gatineau Railway and the Chemin de fer Charlevoix.  The rail connections to the main terminals are provided by the operators or directly by the railway companies.


Geographic location // The right port in the right place!

The Port of Québec enjoys a strategic location.  Geographically and because of the quality of its harbour, Quebec is THE gateway to the Great Lakes.  Located inside the North American continent approximately 1,400 kilometres from the Atlantic and only 250 km from the Great Lakes, the Port of Québec provides an effective link between the industrial and agricultural nerve centre of North America and the rest of the globe.  In fact, it provides the shortest route by sea between Europe and Great Lakes market.  This strategic location allows the Port and the region to benefit in economic and commercial terms from the presence of these industries.  Through its infrastructures and port services, the marine community enables the region to connect with some sixty or more countries that import or export goods originating in or destined for the Great Lakes basin.


Full range of professional services  //  Ready to serve you!

The quality and efficiency of the services provided in a port contribute to its commercial success as well as to the quality of its infrastructures or the competitiveness of its pricing.  The Port of Québec offers stakeholders in the industry a complete rage of professional marine and port services offered by recognized companies and institutions.  These include:

• Shipping agents and customs and transit brokers
• Inspection and classification companies
• Shipyards, ship repair and maintenance
• CN and CP rail networks and the regional rail carriers Quebec Gatineau Railway and Chemin de Fer Charlevoix
• Short- and long-distance trucking
• Drinking water and electricity on all wharves
• Mobile cranes with capacity of up to 440 metric tonnes
• Four tugs providing up to 6,500 b.h.p.
• Bunkering
• Related services: ship chandlers, laundering, waste removal, marine engineering, maintenance, refloating, wreck recovery, etc.

The Canadian Coast Guard ensures efficient and safe commercial shipping year-round and a broad range of marine services:

• Aids to navigation
• Deicing, escort and flood-prevention services
• Communication and marine traffic services
• Search and rescue
• Environmental action
• A fleet of vessels, hovercraft, helicopters, etc.

Transport Canada is in charge of safety and inspections of vessels, whether for safety purposes or to monitor compliance with the various regulations applicable to ships.

The Corporation of Lower St. Lawrence Pilots provides pilotage services to vessels travelling upriver between the municipality of Les Escoumins, located at the mouth of the Saguenay River, and the Port of Québec.  The Corporation of Central St. Lawrence Pilots performs the same functions for vessels travelling downriver from Trois-Rivières to Quebec City.

The Harbour Master’s office of the QPA provides efficient services to clients of the Port of Québec 24 / 7 year-round.  In addition to being at the heart of marine and land activities at the different terminals, the Port’s Harbour Master’s Office is also the centre that co-ordinates the Port’s security service and the officers who patrol the areas of the Port both day and night.


Ocean Group – A major partner

Ocean Group and its subsidiaries, with their Head Office in Quebec City, deliver a full range of integrated marine services, including not only short- and long-distance tug services in the Port, transportation by barge, dredging, under-water work, ship repairs in dry-dock and afloat, welding, machining and manufacturing of parts, construction support services, marine and industrial equipment leasing, refloating of sunken ships and recovery of wrecks.

Ocean has 23 tugs. 50 service vessels and more than 200 barges, whose mobility and ability to perform many functions allow them to take action at all sites, and it can also provide a full range of marine and industrial materials, cranes, trucks with booms and winches, including pumps and other devices.

In Quebec City, the Ocean Group offers efficient, safe and diverse towing services in the Port for ships whose deadweight capacity exceeds 225, 000 tonnes with a fleet of 4 tugs, 3 of which are ultramodern Z-Drive-type vessels, and all of which are equipped with FIFI 1-type fire-fighting systems.  During the summer shipping system, 2 pilot boats are added to these tugs.

The Ocean Group’s human capital is its greatest asset and consists of more than 400 employees, 130 of whom are based in Quebec City.

All the services provided by Ocean are available 24/7 year-round.