VANCOUVER – Grain rail car unloads at the port of Vancouver have surged to record levels since the end of a strike by federal weighers last month.
Where cold steel rail meets Pacific Ocean, CN Rail set a new record for unloads, exceeding projections by 25 percent in week 36 of the shipping season.
But while recent weeks have seen many unload targets met, industry officials said targets are low due to poor sales.
“They’ve all put a lot of cars through since the strike. It has turned around quickly,” said Pio Parisi, who supervises placement of rail cars and directs train traffic at the Lynn Creek CN Rail yards on the port’s north shore.
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Grain, containers, lumber, potash and coal vie for attention and space in the balancing act that is the port of Vancouver. It’s a small stretch of coast with constricted transportation routes, expensive land, and urban development that sees condominiums built 25 metres from rail sidings.
So narrow is the coastal plain that development on the mountain sides is high enough that the weather changes with the address.
The railways snake around millions of people, their highways and their homes as grain moves from the mouth of the Fraser River canyon.
“We get them (terminal elevators) the cars as quick as possible,” said Parisi, as he made a note on one of the many papers on his desk.
“It can be a challenge, though. Late ships, problems in the mountains or the wrong product in the wrong place at the wrong time for a variety of reasons means we juggle. There isn’t a lot of room for error down here. There is nothing else quite like grain.”
Unloads at CN-serviced facilities have risen steadily since the weighers strike ended in March and two weeks ago CN set a one-week record of 2,158 cars.
“It seems sustainable this year. We believe we can keep this up over the long haul … but Vancouver is always a challenge,” said Jim Feeney of CN.
Record unloads are only possible if grain terminals are managing grain well and if a combination of ships are loaded in correct order.
Jeff Robertson of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool said the grain industry is “having trouble feeling good about anything in shipping.
“It’s been so slow. When we start looking at targets above 3,000 (cars) again, hopefully this fall, we can celebrate if we are hitting them then,” Robertson said.
All grain companies have been making improvements to handling facilities in recent years, he added.
“We know we can move the grain. First we have to have the ships … then the cleaning capacity … and finally the railways must present the cars. There are a lot of variables, but Vancouver proves it can do the job.” he said.
Gerry Skura of James Richardson International agrees port activity is going well.
“Things are operating smoothly and the port is meeting targets. But isn’t that the way it is supposed to happen? I don’t know if we are personally setting any daily records but things are moving well.
“Why not set targets of 3,500 a week? We have the capacity in the system and some of these weeks when we are getting the cars just prove that, so let’s move some grain now and in the future,” he said.
Officials in the grain industry said depressed sales have freed up rail cars and a generally slow economy means the rail system is available to handle more grain.
Ed Guest of the Western Grain Elevator Association said low sales and low volumes in general mean targets are lower and thus more achievable.
