The marine transportation sector is a key component of the Nova Scotia economy. Its fine ports and strategic location on the main north Atlantic shipping route facilitate not only the development and growth of its natural resource base and manufacturing industry, but also the efficient movement of international cargoes to markets in central North America. A summary of port activity is shown in Table 10.

Halifax is the largest port in Nova Scotia in terms of vessel movements, with the most diverse cargo base and the most extensive hinterland. In 2001 it handled 13.9 million tonnes of cargo. It is the largest short sea shipping port in the country, the second largest cruise port in Canada after Vancouver, and the third largest container port in Canada. Other significant cargoes include gypsum, crude and refined oil as well as automobile imports and exports

Halifax faces some challenges in the future in terms of its container traffic. Terminal expansion is well underway in competing ports such as New York and Norfolk, and a major dredging project in New York will be completed in 2005 allowing the port to handle the deeper draft vessels now calling at Halifax. Nonetheless, the continued growth of cargo volumes originating in China and South East Asia, as well as port congestion on the west coast, suggests a continued role for Halifax that is vital to provincial exporters and importers.

Port Hawkesbury, on the Strait of Canso, is the largest port by tonnage of cargo handled. Most of the volume is accounted for by the petroleum transshipment facility operated by Statia Terminals. Bulk exports of gypsum, paper products, aggregate and imports of coal make up the balance. In 2001, it handled 21.5m tonnes of cargo, up by about a third from the previous few years. Port Hawkesbury could benefit substantially from the shipment of LNG to the Strait of Canso, and Sydney could benefit from ongoing investments in coal and bulk transshipment activity. Ports such as Liverpool, Pugwash and Pictou, which are owned or controlled by their principal shipper, should prosper as long as those industries thrive.

Ferry service between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, a constitutional obligation under the Terms of Union, is provided by Marine Atlantic, a federal Crown Corporation. It has seen a surge in traffic in recent years and now carries almost 500,000 passengers and 235,000 vehicles annually. Marine Atlantic employs 895 people, about one-quarter of whom reside in Nova Scotia (the rest in Newfoundland and Labrador).

Service between Nova Scotia and PEI is provided by Northumberland Ferries Ltd. Its subsidiary, Bay Ferries Ltd., also operates two services across the Bay of Fundy, from Yarmouth to Maine and from Digby to Saint John. In total, both these services carry 800,000 passengers, 265,000 vehicles and employ 310 people, about half of whom live in Nova Scotia.

The vessel used by Bay Ferries on the Saint John-Digby service is almost 35 years old and will need replacement in the next ten years. Likewise, the Scotia Prince service from Yarmouth to Portland operates with a 31 year old ship and has seen some traffic erosion in recent years as customers are switching to cruise ships sailing from New York and Boston to Maritime ports.

The cruise ship industry is described in Section 6, Ocean Tourism. Port and vessel disbursements are captured in the economic data in Table 11 below, while passenger and crew expenditures are captured in the tourism analysis in Section 6.

The economic contribution by the marine transportation sector arises mainly from spending by shipping lines and ferries on port services. Marine transportation generates in the range of $100-115 million annually to provincial GDP and creates between 1,500 and 1,800 full-time equivalent jobs.