Four intelligent marine transportation system projects will share grants totaling $8.7 million to improve the efficiency of cargo handling and the competitiveness of Quebec businesses that use this type of transit, as well as to reduce amount of greenhouse gases generated by this industry.
More than half of the sum, ie $4.8 million, was granted to Société Terminals Montréal Gateway to carry out its Mercure project, for which the total bill amounts to more than $11.1 million. The company will rely on artificial intelligence to increase the storage capacity of two terminals it operates at the Port of Montreal, in particular by optimizing the movement of cargo containers, an operation currently carried out manually. All of this will improve the traceability of goods and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 9,200 tonnes annually.
“Everything will have a positive impact on the entire supply chain because we will limit unnecessary movements, we will save time and we will reduce the ecological footprint of these activities at the same time. It’s good for everyone,” argued the Deputy Premier and Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault, who traveled to the Port of Montreal to make this announcement as part of the plan of action of Avantage St-Laurent.
A sum of 2.7 million has been allocated to the CSL Group to deploy a collaborative learning model to optimize ship movements. This 5.4 million system, whose delivery is scheduled for December 2024 and which will take the form of an artificial intelligence algorithm, will make it possible to estimate in real time the time of arrival of the boats and the quantity of fuel consumed. , which will ultimately reduce the environmental footprint of freight transit.
Nearly $480,000 was paid to the Laurentian Pilotage Authority for the continued optimization of its pilotage services via a software application, all in order to better plan the route of commercial and amateur vessels between Les Escoumins and Montreal. Once again, we expect to save fuel and operating costs thanks to artificial intelligence, underlined Minister Guilbault. The total project cost expected for September 2024 is just over $956,000.
A study to become more efficient
The fourth project supported by Avantage Saint-Laurent is an opportunity study carried out for the Société de développement économique du Saint-Laurent (SODES), at a cost of $750,000.
This study, which began last December, will be spread over two years and aims to select the best data sharing platform for SODES partners sitting on the Quebec Table on the Smart Maritime Corridor. It is produced by the firm CGI and will deal, on the one hand, with the best practices observed in the world and, on the other hand, with what exists in Quebec as data.
“Before 2021, the industry [maritime] did not have up-to-date data to make decisions,” said SODES President and CEO Mathieu St-Pierre. “We started to create this database with the federal government to be able to gather enough information to get a picture of the situation, put this data into perspective and be able to make projections. »
“That’s how we started to see the evolution of freight transportation, which markets were growing or stagnating and which commodities were on the rise,” he continued. This is the kind of tool the industry needs. »
Optimizing an essential industry
The importance of maritime transport in the daily life of Quebecers is unsuspected, pointed out Mr. St-Pierre.
“About 80% of the common goods consumed regularly are delivered here by ship,” he recalled. In all, some 150 million tons of goods are transshipped annually in one or other of the twenty or so ports on the St. Lawrence.
What’s more, 17,000 Quebec businesses export by waterway and 30,000 others depend on it to receive their products or raw materials.
“Better coordination of means of transportation is essential,” added Mr. St-Pierre. By improving the fluidity and speed of transit, we reduce our ecological footprint and our businesses become more competitive. »
Mme Guilbault announced that a total of six projects have received financial support as part of the implementation of the Avantage Saint-Laurent Smart Economic Corridor. In addition to the four announced on Monday, two others remain to be unveiled.
There is still $6.5 million to be distributed from this envelope, which totals $24.1 million.
Avantage Saint-Laurent’s action plan spans the period from 2021 to 2025. It includes an envelope of nearly $927 million to respond to 12 measures. Nearly 400 million in the entire action plan remain to be spent, said the Deputy Prime Minister.
This dispatch was produced with financial assistance from the Meta Exchange and The Canadian Press for News.