Alan Johnson felt a twinge of sadness last week as he watched a grain cargo ship depart from the port of Churchill.
The ship was the last one expected to visit the port this year. It will likely be several months before the next large ocean-going vessel arrives.
“It’s always a sad occasion when you finally see the end of the season,” said Johnson, president of the Hudson Bay Port Company, which manages the Churchill port.
The final ship left the northern Manitoba port on the western shore of Hudson Bay on Oct. 28, destined for Venezuela with a load of durum and red spring wheat. It was one of 16 large ships that docked at the port this year.
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Johnson said the amount of grain moved through Churchill was down this year compared to a year ago. Last year, the port handled just over 400,000 tonnes of grain. The tally for this year was roughly 320,000 tonnes.
The drop came about partly because there wasn’t much grain to export when the Churchill port opened for the season in early August. The bulk of the six major grains handled by the Canadian Wheat Board had already been exported by May.
“The carryover was low and most of the grain had moved earlier in the crop year,” said Jim Pietryk, a communications officer for the Canadian Wheat Board. The wheat board hastened its export program because it saw lower grain prices looming on the horizon.
However, Churchill saw some benefit from an early harvest across the Prairies this year. The port helped move grains from the new crop to buyers in Africa and Latin America.
Of 16 ships that docked at Churchill this summer, 11 were grain cargo vessels, two were oil tankers, two were cruise ships and one was a Canadian Coast Guard vessel.
In early October, a ship from Spain arrived carrying 11,000 tonnes of copper concentrate. It left with 23,000 tonnes of Canadian red spring wheat destined for Mexico. It marked the first time in “many, many years” that a ship has carried freight both to and from the port, Johnson said.
The Hudson Bay Port Company took possession of the port of Churchill on Sept. 4, 1997. The company hopes to one day move as much as two million tonnes of grain through there.
“There’s a long way to go,” Johnson said, “but we have the potential to do that.”
It was shown this year that the rail line into Churchill can withstand the weight of heavier steel hopper cars. Johnson said next year could see special crops, not handled by the wheat board, shipped through the northern port.
In a bid to give larger ships access to the port, a major dredging project is expected to begin next year, with completion in 2000. The Hudson Bay Port Company is also trying to entice more cruise ships to Churchill.
