Moving a record western Canadian crop is proving to be a challenge.
Cargill’s transportation manager, Chad Jarvis, told farmers at the Grain Expo during Canadian Western Agribition that no one has moved a 70 million tonne crop before so hiccups are certain.
Farmers in some quarters are complaining about slow grain movement. Cargill itself recently had eight facilities ready to load, but no rail cars.
But Jarvis said it’s too easy to just blame the railways.
“Between the two railways they have 25,000 cars,” he said. “Their best service plan seems to be in that 10,000 to 11,000 cars a week planned service. That’s what they’ve been doing the last two or three months.”
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Typically, that dips to 6,000 to 8,000 around Christmas and then could drop lower depending on the severity of the weather.
In the winter, the trains have to go slower and are shorter because the colder weather affects the brake systems that rely on air pressure. There is also only one line for each railway through the mountains.
“If we look at last year and ship the same amount of grain we shipped in the same period of time, let’s say the crop year ending July 31, we would have 14 weeks of 10,000 cars shipping before this crop is moved out,” he said.
“That virtually means we cannot touch another tonne of the new crop that’s being planted in April and May until almost Christmas.”
Jarvis said more trucks will likely be used to move grain faster.
He also said although it might seem like grain isn’t moving, it is.
“At the end of October grain receipts from producers was 1.4 million tonnes more than last year at the same time, so the system is working,” he said. “I know it doesn’t feel like it but we are seeing more grain move through the system.”
