I fully agree with the comments made by my colleagues and the Port of Montreal is in full agreement with the position of the association and supports this bill. Among the essential reasons for that position, there is traffic along the St. Lawrence which you mentioned. We've had growth for 27 years. The results for 2007 will be announced very soon. Once again, we beat our record for the previous year. This year, we had more than a 9% increase in cargo container traffic, which is double that of the previous year.
There's also been a certain transformation with regard to cargo transport. Formerly, there was a certain quantity of bulk cargo that disappeared in favour of some form of containerization. That is an effect of globalization, we didn't invent it. That transformation has been going on for 30 years and will continue to increase. Ships are getting bigger and bigger and they will transport more and more goods by container.
We believe that growth is possible in Montreal. Today, in 2008, we know there will be a capacity problem in 2015. Within only seven years, the Port of Montreal will have attained its full capacity. We must take measures now in order to be able to grow because this demand exists. You can rest assured, this increase will come.
Moreover, to achieve our growth objectives, we will have to expand. There will certainly be a major expansion project for the Port of Montreal, which will enable it to increase its capacity in accordance with the needs that will appear within seven years. Without going into detail, we're talking about an investment of over $500 million just for that work.
We also have other objectives. We have to look after our existing infrastructure first. In the next five years, we're going to spend over $220 million in capital expenditures. Those are our own funds; so we're not talking about loans. That's the minimum we have to invest in the next five years. If we do forecasts for the next 10 years, that amount will certainly easily be multiplied. In the last five years, the total investment in capital expenditures was only $110 million. So we can see that there's growth.
There's also the issues of cruises on the St. Lawrence, consolidation, better access, maritime stations that perform better. That could be a very good project for Montreal and for Canada. And that wouldn't be just because of income, but also because of openness and recognition both in North America and worldwide. In our opinion, this expansion project could very well complement the objective of governments with regard to domestic trade and international trade. Montreal is a hub; it's the gateway to a pool of 100 million consumers located within an hour or an hour and a half from Montreal by plane. That's important.
The other issue I was discussing with Mr. Volpe is that by law, our administration certainly has socio-economic obligations, or in other words, our activities have repercussions on society. For Montreal, that in fact adds up to about $2 billion in economic spinoffs and 17,000 direct and indirect jobs. If you look at all ports, be it Vancouver, St. John's or anywhere else, they have an incredible multiplying effect on the economy.