Dubai’s DP World in talks on alliance with northern Canada port

Dubai’s DP World Ltd. is set to unveil a deal backing potential development of Canada’s port of Churchill, a northern outpost that Prime Minister Mark Carney aims to expand for exports to Europe and other markets.

The global port operator has negotiated a memorandum of understanding with two Canadian entities, including Arctic Gateway Group, the owner and operator of the Churchill port and an associated railway, according to two people familiar with the matter who requested they not be identified.

The agreement focuses on port operations and a possible transportation corridor to link Churchill with DP World’s global logistics network and inland port facilities managed by CentrePort Canada Inc.

Churchill is a remote town in the north of Manitoba. It sits on Hudson Bay, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean via Arctic waterways. Its location means that it could someday become a gateway to ship Canadian resources like liquefied natural gas, grain, potash and other critical minerals to customers in the Middle East and Europe.

But doing all of that would take tens of billions of dollars of investment.

Canada and the United Arab Emirates have been developing closer economic ties since Carney came to office last year with an agenda to build his country’s trade and investment connections with the rest of the world after U.S. President Donald Trump started a trade war.

Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, was scheduled to visit Ottawa on Monday and Tuesday, Carney’s office announced on Sunday. Last year, the UAE committed to invest US$70 billion in Canada.

“At a time of profound global transformation, Canada and the UAE are working to deepen their partnership and build greater economic strength, shared security, and long-term prosperity for people in both countries,” Carney’s office said.

Canadian Energy Minister Tim Hodgson told Bloomberg News last year that Churchill has “tremendous potential” as a much larger export hub. The bay is currently frozen for most of the year, but Hodgson said it could be opened up for extended shipping seasons with icebreakers. Canada signed a deal for new ice-breaking ships in August.

Discussions about the port advanced during September meetings between UAE officials and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew at the time of the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto in mid-September.

A prospectus shared by Canada’s government with summit attendees put the price tag of a major expansion of Churchill and supporting infrastructure at US$57 billion, with “preliminary investment requests” of US$3.9 billion. That pitchbook said the initiative is to turn Churchill “into a four-season trade gateway through an LNG export corridor, rail upgrades, port modernization, and develop all-weather road access.”

DP World already has extensive interests in Canada. It currently operates the container port in Prince Rupert on Canada’s west coast, and last year won the contract to operate a new terminal near Montreal.

One of Canada’s largest pension funds, the Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, is a large equity investor in DP World’s Canadian unit.

With assistance from Brian Platt.