Grain shipments through the Port of Thunder Bay are returning to “more normal volumes” following a disappointing start to the 2022 export season, the port authority said last week.
“I guess I would say things are getting back to normal,” said Tim Heney, chief executive officer at the northern Ontario port.
“We’ve had some pretty soft months all this year due to the poor (prairie) harvest in 2021,” he added.
However, shipments of new crop grain are now flowing through the port and volumes are expected to remain relatively strong for the remainder of the shipping season.
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According to a news release dated Nov. 7, grain terminals at Thunder Bay handled 840,000 tonnes of wheat, canola and other grains during the month of October.
October grain shipments were 33 percent higher than the previous month and eight percent greater than October 2021.
Annual grain volumes at Thunder Bay are determined by a variety of factors, most notably the size of the prairie grain harvest.
In 2021, the prairie harvest fell below 70 million tonnes for the first time in more than a decade.
By comparison, the 2022 harvest is estimated at 93.5 million tonnes, the third largest on record, the port authority said.
That should translate into strong grain volumes for the rest of the 2022 shipping season, which typically ends in mid-January.
Heney said other factors are also pointing to steady shipments of grain and other commodities for the remainder of 2022 and into 2023.
Over the past year or so, exports of prairie potash have surged at the port due to the war in Ukraine and geopolitical tensions in Europe.
As of Oct. 31, more than one million tonnes of Canadian potash had been shipped through Thunder Bay during the 2022 shipping season.
That’s the port’s largest potash movement in more than 30 years — and there are still two months left in the current shipping season.
Global supplies of potash have been strained by sanctions on product from Russia and Belarus, which typically comprise about 32 percent of global production capacity.
Grain exports from the Black Sea region have also been disrupted and a rapid return to pre-war levels seems unlikely.
In Canada, that could boost eastward shipments of prairie grain as Canadian exporters look to serve markets that typically depend more heavily on Black Sea grain.
“Logically, you would think that would be the case because we serve the same markets from here as Ukraine does,” said Heney.
“That will probably have a positive impact (on Thunder Bay shipments) for some time.”
In-bound shipments of phosphate are also on the rise at Thunder Bay.
Phosphate used in Western Canada is typically moved by barge up the Mississippi River or is railed in from ports on the Gulf of Mexico.
But low water levels have affected barge traffic on the Mississippi.
“These are all things that could positively impact us in one way or another,” Heney said.
