The head of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority says surging oil and grain exports drove a record amount of cargo through its gates in the first half of the year as part of a push away from U.S. markets, with Alberta crude fuelling the pivot.
Freight volumes at the Port of Vancouver rode a rising tide of crude oil and canola seed to a 3% year-over-year increase for the six months ended June 30, the federal agency said Monday.
Port authority chief executive Peter Xotta described “a degree of focus and urgency” to hauling loads — fossil fuels included — to and from countries that lie beyond North American shores.
“The U.S. percentage of crude oil shipments is declining … as those global destinations for Alberta crude increase,” he said in a phone interview from Canada Place, which overlooks Vancouver Harbour.
“China and other Asian destinations are playing a pretty significant role in that.”
As East Asia’s oil intake swelled, America’s shrank — a marked change from 2025. The share of U.S.-bound crude exports via Vancouver dropped to one-third versus a fifth the year before. The absolute amount fell as well, Xotta said.
In the first half of 2026, crude oil exports from the port rose 3% year-over-year to a record 12 million tonnes. The increase comes after the Trans Mountain expansion — the twinned pipeline runs between Edmonton and Burnaby, B.C. — opened the floodgate to fossil fuel shipments bound for China and South Korea in 2024.
Crude exports accounted for most of the port’s petroleum shipments, but aviation fuel volumes also shot up 26% as airlines were forced to source their kerosene from regions other than the Middle East, where the Iran war has slowed exports to a trickle.
“The Trans Mountain expansion is really continuing to be a much more dominant commodity in the gateway than we have experienced historically,” Xotta said.
Meanwhile, bulk grain exports jumped 14% year-over-year to a record 17.4 million tonnes by the end of June.
“Canadian agriculture is really surging, partly on the back of good crop outcomes in the last year, and frankly the last two years,” the CEO said.
China, Japan and South Korea remained the traditional big consumers of Canadian bulk grain. But containerized shipments of lentils, peas and beans grew by nearly two-thirds as countries such as Bangladesh, India and other “emerging markets” ratcheted up their imports, Xotta said. Europe and Mexico also took in boatloads of canola seed, on top of China.
China imposed tariffs of 100% on Canadian canola oil in March 2025 in retaliation for Canadian levies on Chinese electric vehicles, and topped it off with a 76% anti-dumping duty on canola seed in August of that year.
China has since lowered the duty on seeds to 15%, but kept the 100% tariff on canola oil — a barrier that helps explain the 14% year-over-year dip in vegetable and animal oil volumes shipped through Vancouver.
Auto volumes through the port rose 10% year-over-year in the first half of 2026, as carmakers sought alternatives to the U.S. market.
Faced with a more protectionist United States, Xotta said he wants to help Canada double its exports to non-U.S. markets within a decade.