Ahoy sailors

Canada has by far the longest coastline in the world, but relatively few employees sailing the deep blue sea or the Great Lakes or working in offices ashore.

Almost one in ten Canadians working in water transportation are women

We counted 10,135 Canadians employed in water transportation during the 2021 Census of Population, with women (1,005 people) accounting for just under one in ten workers. By way of comparison, 281,875 Canadians were working in truck, 43,580 in air and 35,465 in rail transportation in 2021.

British Columbia (3,140 people) was home to over one-third of all Canadians working in water transportation in 2021. Quebec (2,210), Newfoundland and Labrador (1,390) and Ontario (1,210) had the next largest shares of workers, while the three Prairie provinces had 330 people combined working in water transportation.

Nova Scotia (1,210 people) had the largest share of people working in water transportation in the Maritimes, while the Northwest Territories and Yukon both reported 10 people working in the sector in 2021.

Water transportation jobs pay above the national average

The average weekly earnings of payroll employees in the deep sea, coastal and Great Lakes water transportation industry declined 3.5% from a year earlier to $1,622.54 in 2021. Nevertheless, this was well above the national average weekly earnings of $1,130.21.

Moving goods by water accounts for a small share of the total output in the transportation industry

Relatively few goods are shipped by Canadian water transportation companies. Indeed, the total output of Canadian companies transporting goods and passengers by water accounted for 2.1% or $4.3 billion of the $202 billion of total output for the transportation sector in 2021. 

Overall, the economic activity in the water transportation sector accounted for 1.7% of total transportation gross domestic product in 2021.