Transport committee  I serve on the board of the Association of Canadian Port Authorities, which is a fantastic forum for the CEOs of the port authorities to talk and share concerns. We know that, universally, every port feels they have the same issues—some more acute than other ones, and some looking at more of the long-term problems.

Transport committee  Specifically for Hamilton and Oshawa, we certainly feel the constraints now and we're struggling to meet demand, which is why we're looking at other opportunities along the Welland Canal in Niagara. Although we don't do too many containers, container volumes generally grow at about double what GDP grows at.

Transport committee  Last year, in Hamilton, we actually fuelled the first LNG vessel that was ever fuelled on the Great Lakes. We think hydrogen is an absolutely fantastic technology, although it's just not ready for the market yet. As to anything we can do, we're offering incentives in terms of access to our docks, as well as free storage space—in that situation—for the LNG before it was loaded onto the vessels.

Transport committee  There are a number of ways to do it. Working with your individual municipalities to ensure the following of the municipal truck routes is an essential item. I think Montreal is doing it, we're doing it and Vancouver is doing it. We were using RFID technology to track trucks to see where they were actually routed through the downtown corridors and to try to educate and ensure that the trucks were following the prescribed routes.

Transport committee  Thanks very much. I guess the answer is a bit like my daughter's profile: It's complicated. I think the opportunity with cabotage, obviously, is that part of it was originally designed to protect a domestic fleet and to protect a domestic shipbuilding industry. As a result of that, we've ended with a large shipping community in Canada that has really been geared up to serving the Canadian market.

Transport committee  Thank you very much for having me, and good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. It is my pleasure to be invited today to discuss the power of targeted infrastructure investments to build sustainable, resilient supply chains and deliver prosperity. The Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority or HOPA Ports, as we know ourselves now, is the largest integrated port network on the Great Lakes, with port and marine facilities in Hamilton, Oshawa and now Niagara.

Transport committee  Thanks, Mr. Badawey. Maybe I'll answer your second question first. Certainly, as a result of the free trade agreements, we've seen fairly material growth in the Port of Hamilton and the surrounding area for overseas cargo. We now carry over $1 billion worth of agricultural products, mainly into Europe, which is close to a $750-million increase per year over the last 10 years.

Transport committee  Yes, and the kind of mini land bridge of that is that probably that cargo spends too much time on ground transportation before it actually is able to access marine terminals. As well, as you mentioned, going off the east coast to the United States while even going to the east coast of Canada means that it's travelled through the whole southern Ontario region to these ports by ground transportation, adding to the congestion issue, and in a lot of cases that's by truck.

Transport committee  Thanks. I think you bring up a good question, because we certainly see that there are silos for the different modes of transportation. Speaking for the port community, I think that as we evolve as ports, we realize that we have to be multimodal hubs. For example, on the Hamilton project, we worked very closely with the rail.

Transport committee  [Inaudible—Editor] operates extremely well in terms of its mandate of moving ships from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario and vice versa. The challenge is that the vessels don't really have much opportunity to stop in the Niagara region, and there aren't the right terminal facilities and rail and road connectivities to attract the businesses to utilize those services.

Transport committee  At this stage, there's probably one at the forefront. I think the first step in creating a trade corridor, a road trade corridor, between the GTA and the Niagara region is a great project, and I think that's being initiated by the Niagara region. In terms of the development of dock walls and areas like that, currently they are controlled by the St.

Transport committee  Unfortunately—and you've been around, so you realize this—one of the biggest problems we have right now in the GTA is congestion. The waterways around the GTHA and into Niagara are underutilized. We firmly believe that by developing those transportation infrastructures and interfaces, we can better tap into that marine potential.

Transport committee  Okay. Thank you.

Transport committee  Okay, perfect. Thank you very much. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, and members of the committee. It's a great honour to address the committee today. As you mentioned, my name is Ian Hamilton. I'm the President and CEO of the Hamilton Port Authority. It's nice to see so many of you again.

Transport committee  I know we're running tight on time, but in addition to the NTCF fund, I think there are probably better ways to address public-private partnerships. I believe there's a lot of capital available in the private area that could be leveraged. Part of that will be addressed through recommendations through the port modernization and how we can tap into that available money.