The Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority (HOPA) will make significant infrastructure investments this year as the agency supports major construction projects in the agri-food sector at Hamilton Harbour.

Jonathan Wetselaar, HOPA’s director of capital projects, provided an overview of the two new Hamilton agri-food projects as well as upcoming infrastructure investments at HOPA sites in Oshawa and Port Colborne to members of the Hamilton-Halton Construction Association at the HHCA’s Construction Forecast breakfast last week.

Wetselaar said HOPA’s project pipeline is “very, very healthy,” with the two latest agri-food builds underscoring the wisdom of HOPA’s decision to pivot towards that sector over a decade ago.

“We started to see the writing on the wall as to what was happening with the steel industry, and we very strategically focused on agri-foods, because we saw the future, we saw the production…and the way that we can move the goods, move the grain, bring food products in in order to feed the region,” he said in an interview. “That’s really ballooned.”