The Mining Association of Canada | The Canadian Mining Story: Economic Impacts and Drivers for the Global Energy Transition 2023 19 prices to a baseline year (currently 2013) and is maintained by Statistics Canada. The index increased from 111.3 for local trucking and 115 for long-distance in September 2020 to 143.9/153.2 for local/long distance in September 2022. This means that prices have increased by more than 50% for long distance trucking since 2018, and by 38 percentage points since September 2020. These increased costs put pressure on all producers of goods. The mining industry is particularly vulnerable to these increases in costs because of the high volume and long distances required to ship its products, and because of the need for transportation of essential supplies to mines. Marine Mining is a leading customer of Canadian ports. The Port of Montreal handles large volumes of iron ore and salt, as well as other mineral products such as fertilizer, ores, gypsum and scrap metal. Total dry bulk mined products accounted for approximately 3.7 million tonnes in 2021, or 48% of the port’s dry bulk cargo shipments for the year. Generally, these arrive by ship as inbound cargo and are then transported by rail or truck to the region’s smelting and refining facilities. On the container side, the port moves metallurgical steel and mineral products, which together accounted for 2.4 million tonnes of goods moved, or roughly 17% of total container volumes. Steelmaking coal accounts for 22% of the bulk goods handled at the Port of Vancouver annually, which moves shipments to China, Japan and other Asian markets. Fertilizer potash represents another 9% of the bulk volume, and minerals and ores another 10%. All told, mining products account for 60 million tonnes, or roughly 60% of the bulk volume. Figure 8: For-Hire Motor Carrier Freight Services Price Index14 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 General freight trucking, local: 143.9 General freight trucking, long distance: 153.2 Jan. 19 July 19 Feb. 20 Aug. 20 Mar. 21 Sept. 21 Apr. 22 Nov. 22 May 23 2013=100 14 Statistics Canada, Archived - For-hire motor carrier freight services price index, monthly, table 18-10-0212-01.
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