The company responsible for monitoring grain movement says shipments rebounded sharply in March after being impeded by blockades.
In its latest grain monitoring report released last week, Quorum Corp. said shipments climbed to 5.1 million tonnes in March, a 41.4 percent increase from 3.6 million tonnes in February.
Quorum said the boost in performance helped lift year-to-date shipments to nearly 36.7 million tonnes, representing a 1.6 percent increase. At the same time last year, shipments were 36.1 million tonnes.
When faced with blockades and main-line washouts in February, railways had a difficult time moving hopper cars to ports in Western Canada. It took railways about 21.5 days to complete a car cycle in February, according to Quorum.
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In March, however, railways managed to complete the cycle in 16.8 days, a significant improvement, said Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum.
“The faster they move, the more grain they move,” he said. “Normally, what we would hope to see is cycles of 14 to 14.5 days but, considering what the railways have gone through, it’s still pretty good.”
Quorum’s report said the year-to-date average for the car cycle is 17 days. At the same time last year, the cycle averaged at 16.3 days.
It said cars cycled at an average of 23.1 days when moving to Eastern Canada. In the United States, the car cycle was 26 days.
Quorum said 77 percent of grain went to western ports, 13 percent to the United States and Mexico, eight percent to Eastern Canada, and two percent to western domestic markets.
Quorum said vessels spent about 22.3 days at ports in March compared to 25.9 days in February. The year-to-date average for vessel time at ports was 13.2 days in March — 17.4 percent higher than the same time last year.
As well, Quorum said shipments from western ports were down 1.7 percent from the same period last year, to 23.4 million tonnes.
Overall space in the country elevator system has remained fairly tight, with stocks at 91 percent of working capacity.
Manitoba’s working capacity was 80 percent, while Saskatchewan’s was 88 percent.
In Alberta and British Columbia, however, capacity was at 100 percent, Quorum said.
The average days-in-storage is down by 5.5 percent, when compared to the same time last year, Quorum reported.
At 73.6 percent, wheat (including durum) and canola continue to make up the largest proportion of movement. Movement of peas and lentils has been relatively consistent, Quorum said, constituting 12.2 percent of the total.
