The first grain boat of the 2014 shipping season is being loaded at Manitoba’s Port of Churchill.
The M.V. Ikan Suji began loading 35,200 tonnes of No. 2 Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat on Aug. 5.
The grain was collected through Richardson Pioneer elevators in Manitoba and northeastern Saskatchewan and is destined for Mexico.
The Port of Churchill celebrates is 85th anniversary this year,
Each year, the port holds an annual First Vessel Ceremony to mark the start of the shipping season.
This year’s ceremony was hosted by Saw Din Maung the captain of the M.V. Ikan Suji.
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More than 50 people attended the event, including Manitoba’s agriculture minister Ron Kostyshyn, House of Commons transportation committee chair Larry Miller, officials with the Port of Churchill and representatives of Richardson International.
“We’re looking forward to another successful shipping season with our dedicated shippers, like Richardson International, who provide continued, long-standing support to the Port of Churchill,” said Merv Tweed, president of OmniTrax Canada, the company that owns the port.
The Port of Churchill operates each year from late July until freeze-up, shipping grain and other cargoes around the world.
Last year, the port shipped well into November, setting a new record for the latest outgoing grain shipment.
Changes to the CWB’s marketing authority in 2012 led many observers to suggest that business at the Port of Churchill would suffer.
In response, Ottawa introduced a five-year $25 million incentive program that pays shippers more than $9 per tonne for every tonne of grain shipped through the northern port.
Richardson, a Canadian grain export company based in Winnipeg, has been the port’s biggest shipping customer over the past two years.
“Churchill is an important port for Richardson and we are pleased to have another large shipping program in place for 2014,” said Curt Vossen, president and chief executive officer of Richardson International.
“Last year, we extended the shipping season by several weeks loading the last vessel on November 12 and we expect to have another strong season this year.”
In a corporate news release, officials with Richardson International said the company’s grain shipments through the Port of Churchill have increased significantly since the elimination of the CWB monopoly in August 2012.
Earlier this year, Tweed said grain and oilseed shipments through the Port of Churchill could exceed 700,000 tonnes this year.
With operational changes, grain and oilseed shipments could potentially approach one million tonnes per year, he added.
