SASKATOON – It finally rained on the grain transportation system’s record-setting parade.
For the first time this crop year, grain shipments through the West Coast failed to set a monthly record.
Heavy rains in the last two weeks of November played havoc with loading operations at Vancouver’s grain terminals, said Grain Transportation Agency spokesperson Van McLean.
“The captains will refuse to open the holds and they can’t load grain,” he said. “The grain will take on the rain and get out of condition by the time it reaches destination.”
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The decision whether to open the holds is solely up to the captain, he said, adding that some in the industry suspect other factors sometimes come into play as well, like how much the captain likes Vancouver.
Seven hundred kilometres to the north at Prince Rupert, throughput was also limited last month. A maintenance program designed to upgrade car receiving equipment and trackage at the terminal canceled weekend unloading.
Shipments to the two West Coast ports in November totaled 1.51 million tonnes (1.13 million at Vancouver and 377,744 at Prince Rupert). That fell short of the record 1.59 million tonnes set in 1991, but it’s well above the five-year average of 1.33 million tonnes.
“We can’t lose sight of the fact that it’s 10 to 15 percent above the five-year average and still heavy movement,” said Bruce McFadden, the GTA’s executive director of operations.
Thunder Bay was Canada’s busiest grain port last month, taking delivery of 1.34 million tonnes of prairie grains and oilseeds, 11 percent above the five-year average.
Total movement of the principal grains and oilseeds to ports in the first four months of the crop year was a record 11.4 million tonnes, compared with the five-year average of 10.3 million tonnes.
A number of factors have been credited for the increased movement, including an earlier harvest, more railway cars, a good quality crop, reduced shipments to the U.S. and more weekend work.
As the crop year began, the GTA said the system would be called upon to move 19 million tonnes of grain by Dec. 31.
However, that number included shipments to interior Canadian destinations and the U.S., along with some grains and products that aren’t included in the 11.4 million tonne figure.
Amounts uncertain
It’s still not known for certain if the system will move 19 million tonnes by the end of December.
“We haven’t done any back-of-the-envelope calculations on that one,” said McFadden. “My sense of the situation would be it will be somewhat less than that, but probably not significantly.”
The latest shipping plan issued by the GTA says there are sales on the books for December to February totaling 8.5 million tonnes.
Operational guidelines published by the agency indicate there is enough capacity in the system to move 8.6 million tonnes.
