Situated on the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River in Southern New Brunswick, Saint John is located approximately 110 km from the United States border. The city has convenient access to the Trans Canada Highway and boasts a large deep sea year-round port, freight rail service to central Canada and the Northeastern United States and a small international airport. The greater metropolitan area includes the following communities: Grand Bay-Westfield, Quispamsis, Rothesay, Saint John and St. Martins, clustered around the Bay of Fundy, Kennebecasis and Saint John Rivers.

Saint John (pop. 127,000) is the oldest incorporated city in North America. It continues to be a major industrial center for the Atlantic region as a whole. The deepwater terminal Canaport in Saint John, the first in the Western Hemisphere, is easily accessible to large supertankers. Irving Oil Ltd. has recently signed an agreement with a Spanish partner, Repsol YPF, to create a new company, Canaport LNG. This new $750-million venture will bring an operational liquefied natural gas plant to Saint John by 2008. Irving hopes to open a natural gas power plant and a plastics manufacturing plant soon after.