WINNIPEG — Grain handling has been slower than previous years since the Port of Thunder Bay’s season opened, but the port’s chief executive officer says this year is a reversion to normal.
The port started shipping March 26 and has moved 1.5 million tonnes of cargo as of May 31, compared with 1.8 million in the same time frame a year earlier.
“We’ve had two very strong years back to back, so we’re down from those years,” said Thunder Bay Port Authority CEO Tim Heney.
The amount of grain moved by the port in any given year can be limited by competition between eastern-western supply chains, availability of ships and the amount of exports to the United States.
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The port moved 643,003 tonnes of grain in April, compared with 688,223 in the same month a year earlier.
The port moved 729,000 tonnes of grain in May, which lags behind 2015, when the port moved 1.1 million tonnes.
The amount of grain moved this year is in line with the five year average, but it’s hard to tell what coming months will hold, Heney said.
Months leading into harvest are often slower, and movement picks up when new crop becomes available, he added.
“All indications are it’ll be large,” Heney said.
“The last three harvests were the biggest three in Canada.”
All it takes is one good shipment to bring the port back up to par with stronger years because it has the largest grain storage capacity in North America.
“You can make up so much tonnage,” he said.
“If there’s a big push, you can bounce from 500,000 to 1.3 million in one month.”
Heney said structural changes in the Canadian grain industry have allowed the port to become more successful in recent years, including the elimination of single desk wheat marketing.
“That’s been positive for us, up until this point,” Heney said.
He would like the port to move a million tonnes of grain per month this year.
“We consider that a pretty good number, because then you end up the year around nine million tonnes,” he said.
The port is expected to operate until Jan. 15.
