WINNIPEG (Staff) – A new approach to grain handling could boost west coast export capacity by as much as 50 percent, says the chief executive officer of Prince Rupert Grain Ltd.
Clarence Roth told the annual meeting of the Canada Grains Council that under a “just-in-time” delivery system, west coast terminals could export 27-30 million tonnes annually.
The ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert have handled as much as 20 million tonnes in a year although based on monthly and quarterly records, they could ship 25 million if running at maximum capacity for 12 months.
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Roth said if the industry adopted a so-called “just-in-time” system for moving cleaned grain to port, Prince Rupert Grain could boost its capacity by three million tonnes with a minimal investment of $12 to $15 million and other terminals could do the same. Total west coast capacity could reach 27-30 million tonnes.
Grain meets vessel
Under such a system, grain arrives at port just in time to meet an incoming vessel. Those vessel arrivals would determine when a farmer delivers to the elevator, the type and grade of grain that is bought in the country, rail shipping schedules out of the elevator and grain movement at the port.
“The system pulls grain to port,” said Roth. “The existing system pushes to port whatever grain gets delivered by farmers to the country elevator. The problem is that the grain pushed to the port usually isn’t what is required by the ship coming up to the dock.”
The goal would be to reduce car cycle times from 30 to 40 days to 15 days or less. Cycle time is the period between when a car is ordered, the grain is loaded and transported to Prince Rupert, cleaned, loaded on a ship and the car returned to the country.
Improving cycle times would result in more grain movement with the same port facilities, better use of the existing rail fleet, lower freight and demurrage costs and happier export customers, Roth said.
