Grain shipments out of the port of Prince Rupert have taken a big jump in the first half of 2009.
But what goes up usually comes down, and that will likely happen to grain traffic this fall.
Statistics released by the Prince Rupert Port Authority (PRPA) indicate that 2.9 million tonnes of grain were shipped out of the northern British Columbia port between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2009, the first two quarters of the port’s fiscal year.
That’s 32.8 percent more than the 2.17 million tonnes shipped during the same period a year ago. The total includes 2.66 million tonnes of wheat, 161,000 tonnes of canola and 52,000 tonnes of barley.
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However, that torrid pace is unlikely to be maintained through to the end of the calendar year, given uncertainty about the 2009 prairie crop.
“There’s great concern about the size and quality of this year’s overall crop due to the lack of adequate moisture throughout the growing season,” said Prince Rupert Grain Ltd. (PRG) president Jeff Burghardt.
A late start to the season and unfavourable growing conditions across much of the Prairies, including the northern Prairies, which serve as the catchment area of the port, has already led to reduced crop estimates.
The CWB recently lowered its wheat crop estimate for 2009 by 600,000 tonnes to 20.2 million tonnes. Total production of CWB grain was cut by 20 percent from 25.5 million tonnes in 2008.
That’s bound to have an impact at Prince Rupert, along with other export outlets.
“There is strong potential for the throughput levels to be lower this coming fall compared to the levels that PRG has attained in recent years,” Burghardt said.
Shipments out of Prince Rupert have averaged about 4.7 million tonnes a year over the past three years.
The port authority also reported a substantial increase in shipments of containerized traffic in the first half of 2009.
The Fairview Container Terminal, which opened in November 2007, handled 97,616 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units), an increase of 124 percent from the 43,555 that moved during the same period in 2008.
Imports accounted for 58,695 of the containers, while exports accounted for 38,880.
Don Krusel, president and chief executive officer of PRPA, said business at the terminal has been increasing steadily since it opened.
He said the port’s speed, reliability and efficiency are proving valuable to shippers looking for ways to save money in tough economic times.
