Transportation and Logistics

New border crossings

The Gordie Howe International Bridge will provide you with new advantages to:

• Ship goods more efficiently into the U.S. using the most advanced technology
• Use the direct highway to highway link to ship goods across the border in both directions

Review the Gordie Howe International Bridge and the Bi-National Great Lakes Economic Region: Assessing Economic Impact and Opportunities report that was released by the Cross Border Institute. This report highlights some of the advantages provided by the Gordie Howe International Bridge.

Roads

Windsor-Essex network system and access to the U.S. market is second to none. Many of our business and industrial parks are strategically located throughout the highway system for optimal transportation and logistics. Our well-maintained systems include:

• Expressway connectors
• Visual and sensory technology for more efficient traffic flow along the busiest trade corridor
• Provincial highways
• Macdonald-Cartier Freeway (Highway 401)

All routes interconnect with the U.S. interstate system via:

• Ambassador Bridge

• Detroit-Windsor Tunnel
• Rt. Honourable Herb Gray Parkway which will connect to the Gordie Howe International Bridge

Infrastructure advantages include:

• Rapid commercial pre-clearance on the Ambassador Bridge, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel or with the Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry service
• Access to Detroit-Windsor crossings which handle approximately one-third of the total trade between Canada and the United States
• Over $100 billion in goods cross the Windsor-Detroit border annually and more than 2.5 million trucks cross the border annually

Our networking supports our well-established trucking industry in Windsor-Essex. Having originated the "Just in Time" method in the Windsor-Essex-Detroit marketplace, we maintain the standard on which manufacturers rely today. Among many benefits, we provide:

• competitive rates
• numerous alternatives for the cost-efficient movement of freight destined for local, national and international markets

Rail

Our rail connections are our powerhouse that fuels our local businesses and gives us access to goods that our manufacturers rely on. The Windsor-Essex region is connected directly to North America's railway network via the ‘Michigan Central Railway Tunnel.'

Canadian National (CN), Canadian Pacific (PC), and CSX Corporation all have railway lines through Windsor-Essex that support our manufacturers and large business corporations. Passengers benefit from the VIA Rail Canada railway that transits from Windsor-Essex to Toronto.

The Essex Terminal Railway (ETR) primarily connects Windsor, Ontario to Amhertsburg, Ontario to serve our primary sector industries including:

• lumber transfer yards
• major agricultural and chemical plants
• machinery and steel
• grain and salt
• scrap industry

The Morterm Limited Great Lakes marine terminal accommodates ocean vessels and large automotive parts production centre that provide you with a direct connection to CN, CP, Norfolk Southern and CSXT.

Rail traffic to and from the U.S. is accommodated in a twin track tunnel that moves rail cars from Chicago to New York City via Niagara Falls in the most efficient, uncongested, easiest grade and lowest cost method possible.

Air

The Windsor International Airport (YQG) is an international airport capable of satisfying a wide range of air cargo needs that can be delivered anywhere around the world. YQG's aviation feeds, handling charges, fuel costs and leasing rates are among the lowest in Canada. It offers around the clock Canada Customs services and bonded warehousing for international cargo. YQG is conveniently adjacent to:

• CN intermodal facility
• CPR and CSX (potential intermodal facility)
• Two major Canadian and U.S. highway corridors (Interstate 75 and Highway 401)
• St. Lawrence Seaway for ocean going vessels, providing the third largest deep-water Great Lakes port in Canada

YQG has a runway length of 2,835-metre (9,300-foot) with no curfews and no congestion that handles:

• any size of aircraft, including Boeing 747s, the Airbus-380, the Russian Antonov 124 and 225 (the largest freight aircraft in the world)
• over 245,000 passengers per year, and provides daily commuter flights connecting through Toronto to major Canadian cities, the U.S. and Europe

The airport is federally designated as a trans-shipment point because of its proximity to the U.S. border. This permits Canadian and foreign air carriers to use the airport as a transit point for incoming and outbound international cargo and U.S. carriers do not need to pay for air rights.

The airport also boasts a new truck-to-truck cargo complex that is anchored by FedEx on its northern perimeter. With international CN and CP railways directly beside the airport, YQG is an ideal location for future truck-to-rail expansion with approximately 607 hectares (1,500 acres) of industrial land available for development.

Other major regional airports that are within a 45-minute driving radius of Windsor include:

• Detroit City Airport
• Detroit Metro Airport
• Willow Run (which is dedicated to airfreight services)
• Oakland County Regional

Windsor Airport 360-Degree Video

Marine

The Port of Windsor is perfectly positioned as a gateway to the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, making it an ideal shipping point for a wide range of products such as salt, grain, fluorspar, lumber, steel, petroleum, vehicles and heavy lift equipment, all destined for international or domestic markets. Port Windsor provides desirable benefits including:

• Membership of Highway H2O that ensures reliability, capacity and connectedness to over 40 international and regional ports
• More than 4,888 metres of berthing space, 89 hectares of open storage and over 40,000 square metres of covered storage
• Full service marine terminal, Morterm Limited, which handles large quantities of bulk cargo from deep-sea ships

Recent growth advantages include:

• Shipments through Port Windsor increased 38 per cent to 5.8 million tonnes of cargo over the past ten years
• Much of the growth came in the shipping of stone and aggregates for the construction of a 40-hectare (100-acre) customs and truck plaza which will serve the new Gordie Howe International Bridge.
• Approximately 243 hectares (60 acres) of available land for development around the port

Port of Windsor 360-Degree Video