The Port of Thunder Bay has started its 2013-14 shipping season.
Tim Heney, chief executive officer of the Thunder Bay Port Authority, said the first laker arrived at the Ontario port on Lake Superior on March 26, a day after the opening of the Soo Locks at Sault Ste Marie, Ont.
Fifteen ships had been loaded with grain as of April 11 and another five were in port.
Heney called it an average start to the shipping season.
“We were quite encouraged (by grain shipments) … at the end of the year but so far, the start (to 2013 shipping) has been a little bit slow, actually,” he said.
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“We were hoping for a bigger surge, but we’ll see what happens.”
Grain shipments through Thunder Bay totalled 6.5 million tonnes last year, roughly 10 percent higher than the 10-year average of 5.9 million tonnes.
Wheat volumes were up 10 percent.
Annual grain volumes were the second highest level of the past decade.
Much of the increase in 2012 grain traffic occurred late in the year, after the CWB marketing monopoly was eliminated.
Heney said the port was hoping the surge in grain business would carry over to the new shipping season.
Traffic patterns in the new marketing environment are hard to predict, he added.
Grain companies with export facilities at Thunder Bay are adjusting to new logistical issues, and lake freight is now dealing with multiple companies rather than just CWB.
A higher-than-normal snowpack across much of the Prairies has also affected grain shipments, as has unseasonable cold weather in March and April.
