{{RELATEDLINKS}}CentrePort Canada Inc. is a tri-modal inland
port (rail, truck, and air cargo) and Foreign-Trade
Zone located in the heart of North America
in Winnipeg, Canada — a major metropolitan
center, which ranked fi rst in 2014 as the most
cost-competitive city for business in the North
American Midwest.
With Winnipeg outperforming 26 major
cities such as Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, and
Phoenix (KPMG), many high-profile companies call
CentrePort home: Boeing Canada, Magellan, Paterson
Global Foods, Bison Transport, Winpak, and North
West Company. This low-cost and location advantage
has also helped to attract more than 30 new
companies to CentrePort’s 20,000-acre footprint.
Located just one-hour north of the U.S. border
at Pembina-Emerson, CentrePort offers direct access
to a North American consumer population of 100
million living within a 24-hour drive, and is at the
hub of international trade corridors heading in all
directions, including south to the U.S. and Mexico and
east-west along Canada’s Asia-Pacifi c Gateway.
CentrePort is particularly well positioned for
companies servicing resource-rich developments
including North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields (400 miles
to Williston); Ontario’s “Ring of Fire” (438 miles to
Thunder Bay); Saskatchewan’s potash region (356
miles to Regina); northern Manitoba’s hydro and
mining developments (473 miles to Thompson); and
Alberta’s oil sands (1,015 miles to Fort McMurray).
With Winnipeg being the nearest major city to
the Bakken (population over 700,000), CentrePort
offers big-city advantages such as abundant
labor, a skilled workforce, and training incentives;
competitive wages (15–25 percent lower than
Ontario and Western Canada); and a diverse
manufacturing industry of original equipment
manufacturers, tier 1 suppliers, and secondary
suppliers, making raw materials easier to source.
CentrePort also provides a clear transportation
advantage — shipping to Williston from Winnipeg is 20
to 50 percent cheaper than from other regional centers’
cities (Chicago, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Denver, and
Houston), while shipping times are up to 75 percent
faster (comparison for a Canadian trucking company
shipping LTL for 1,000- and 5,000-lb. pallets).
Being at CentrePort has other benefits —
combined corporate taxes are 33 percent lower in
Canada than the U.S., employee healthcare costs
are government-funded, and Winnipeg has the
lowest published energy costs in North America.
As Canada’s only tri-modal inland port,
significant public investment has been made in
improving highways. A new $212 million CentrePort
expressway is now open and moving cargo more
quickly and efficiently. CentrePort also features a 24/7
international cargo airport, and access to three class-one
railways (CN, CP, and BNSF). The corporation is
currently developing a common-use rail facility and
adjacent industrial park for rail-intensive business.
With these advantages, industrial land at
CentrePort is ideal for manufacturing and assembly,
warehousing and distribution, agribusiness, food
processing and packaging, and transportation-related
logistics.