Wheat accounted for 7.86 million tonnes, or nearly half, of the volume moved through the port in the first half of 2023
There was a huge surge in grain volumes moved through Port of Vancouver terminals in the first half of 2023.
Exports more than doubled compared to the same period in 2022, with 16.36 million tonnes shipped, up from 7.94 million tonnes.
“We’re very pleased that this happened,” said Victor Pang, interim president of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.
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The doubling of grain volumes is the main reason the port was able to post a 10.7 percent increase in overall exports for the first half of 2023 despite a “soft” Canadian economy.
“The 2023 mid-year statistics reinforce the foundational strength of being North America’s most diversified port and a testament to the outstanding efforts of the port community,” he said.
He attributed the big increase in grain volumes to the bumper 2022-23 crop, coming off a drought-ravaged 2021-22 harvest.
Wheat accounted for 7.86 million tonnes, or nearly half of the volume moved through the port, with the top destinations being Japan and Algeria.
Canola came in a distant second at 3.81 million tonnes.
Mercantile Consulting Venture noted that the Canadian export pace for wheat seems to be holding up well through Week Six of the 2023-24 campaign.
“Mercantile thinks exporters are spending more time and effort marketing wheat because the canola export market is not as lively as it was in previous years,” the firm said in a recent market outlook written for the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission.
“This makes it more important to move other grains to keep commodity assets fully utilized.”
Wheat is likely to become an even more important export crop as more canola gets diverted to the domestic crush sector.
Farm Credit Canada is forecasting 7.8 million tonnes of additional Canadian crush capacity coming over the next few years.
Pang said that is not a big concern from the port authority’s perspective.
“That is the game that we’re in,” he said.
“The economy will evolve. Different industries will have a change of their product mix from time to time.”
Mid-year wheat export volumes were up 144 percent compared to a 124 percent increase in canola and 67 percent surge in special crops.
That compares to single-digit, plus-or-minus changes in other cargo categories like chemicals, coal, fertilizers, forest products and petroleum.
Pang said the port is committed to making infrastructure changes aimed at decongesting train and road intersections to ensure capacity is not impacted by vehicle traffic.
It is also focused on working with terminal operators and railways to get some increased data sharing by using tools like Connect-Plus to analyze statistics such as vessel turn time, truck turn time and railway dwell time.
The goal is to identify where the system is performing smoothly and where there are bottlenecks.
“We want to really double down in our efforts in that area,” he said.
The port authority also wants to play a more active role in managing marine traffic to ensure a more efficient interaction between vessel arrivals and train schedules.
“We are looking hard at launching a software solution that we can be using alongside other players in the gateway so that we can all be looking at a more efficient way to schedule vessel movement,” said Pang.
Inbound container traffic at the port fell 17 percent in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period a year ago due to the slumping global economy.
However, he was happy to see there was a 27 percent drop in empty containers heading out of the port and a 14 percent increase in loaded container exports.
The pandemic dynamic of empty containers being pulled back to Asia in a hurry to be filled with consumer goods appears to be over.
That is good news for shippers of special crops, who exported 2.57 million tonnes of product during the first half of 2023.
It remains to be seen how this year’s short crop will affect cargo traffic at the port in the second half of 2023.
Statistics Canada estimates Canadian farmers harvested 83.87 million tonnes of grain, oilseeds, pulses and special crops, a 13 percent decline from the previous year.
