 Whitney Pier was separated from Sydney's central business district by lands occupied by Sydney Steel Corporation, at one time Canada's largest integrated steel mill (no longer in business), as well as a large railway yard and tracks running from the harbour to coal mines in nearby New Waterford and Glace Bay.The International Shipping Pier is located at the southern edge of the neighborhood, adjacent to the steel plant property, and is the current location for coal imports that feed the Lingan Generating Station, with the coal being hauled by the Sydney Coal Railway.From 1968–2001, the Cape Breton Development Corporation's Devco Railway hauled coal from coal mines northeast of Whitney Pier to this shipping pier for international export; the last coal mine in the area known as Industrial Cape Breton closed in November 2001, forcing the power plant to rely on coal imports for the first time.