Resilience of the Port of Montreal’s transportation and logistics infrastructure: Compilation, analysis and decision support options in the context of climate change

The project has enabled APM to identify the elements of the Montreal port system most vulnerable to climate change on which they can focus their adaptation actions.

Project details

Scientific program

2020-2025 programming

Theme(s) and priority(s)

Economy

Start and duration

January 2020 • March 2023

Project Status

Completed

Principal(s) investigator(s)

Claude Comtois

Université de Montréal

Brian Slack

Université Concordia

Context

Ports play an essential role in our socio-economic systems by facilitating trade on a variety of scales (from local to international). Due to the nature and location of their operations, port systems and commercial shipping are particularly exposed to climatic disturbances. Consequently, their ability to cope with the repercussions of climate change and extreme weather conditions is a political priority at both the national and international level.

Objective(s)

To measure the anticipated impacts of climate change and identify adaptation measures to increase the resilience of Montreal’s port system (infrastructure, port operations, supply chains) in order to maintain its contribution to the Canadian economy.

This project, focused on the Port of Montreal, is related to the study on the vulnerability of St. Lawrence ports.

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Methodology

The analysis of the Port of Montreal’s resilience to climate change involves several steps:

Identifying and describing the main characteristics of the Montreal port system’s infrastructure, operations and supply chains, their criticality and their sensitivity to climatic conditions
Documenting the historical and future changes in climatic parameters at the Port of Montreal and, more generally, in the St. Lawrence system
Determining the risks that could constrain the Port of Montreal’s maritime and port activities in the context of climate change from now until 2070
Identifying options that could be implemented to support decision-making on climate change adaptation measures at the Port of Montreal

Results

An analysis of the future conditions for various climate variables of interest to port systems was produced (see report). The changes in climate variables and indicators that can affect maritime, port and multimodal transport at the port are presented for the following variables: temperature, precipitation, freezing rain, snowfall and snow on the ground, wind, storms and ice conditions.

The probabilities associated with the RCPs are also discussed. The knowledge developed in this initiative will fill certain gaps and enable gains that will improve the overall understanding of the influential climate features in this sector and how they are changing in the St. Lawrence system.

The resulting vulnerability analysis suggests that the majority (around 67%) of Montreal’s port infrastructure has sufficient capacity to cope with changing climatic conditions. The APM and the terminal operators are able to handle climate change with little or no adverse impact for 57% of Montreal’s port operations. The Port of Montreal’s supply chains appear to be relatively insensitive to climate change, while 63% of interactions between climate parameters and port supply chains will see their degree of vulnerability decrease or remain stable.

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Benefits for adaptation

The project has enabled the APM to identify the elements of Montreal’s port system that are most vulnerable to climate change (navigable channel; energy supply, particularly electricity; warehousing areas), on which they can focus their adaptation measures.