WINNIPEG – A group of entrepreneurs and port supporters is hoping to pin down a purchase price for the Port of Churchill, the Hudson Bay line and key rail lines feeding the route.
The Canadian Northern Gateway Transportation Company has already raised about $50,000 toward finding by this fall the answer to what is likely a million-dollar question.
The group includes a trucking company, a passenger rail company and a company that specializes in stabilizing rail beds.
Rod McKenzie, administrator of the Local Government District of Churchill, said the company will be asking the Manitoba, Saskatchewan and federal governments this week to each match the contribution.
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McKenzie said the company will use the money to hire consultants to assess whether it can afford to buy and operate the port. Although the port has lost money as a government enterprise, the group wants to try it as a private operation.
“Right now we’re told by people who are close to that type of activity who are interested that they can operate this line much cheaper than what CN does now,” McKenzie said.
The company hopes to deliver a bid to the federal government by Nov. 15. Depending on the upcoming feasibility study, the company may also ask the government to force the two major railways to deliver rail cars into the Churchill rail system and ensure that Canadian Wheat Board freight cost pooling reflects Churchill’s capacity.
McKenzie said the company will also be looking to the grain industry for support. So far, it has only one producer on its steering committee of nine people, Hugh Campbell of Qu’Appelle, Sask.
In January, a task force found the port would break even if it shipped 600,000 tonnes of freight a year. Right now, it handles about half that. But more than a million tonnes would be needed each year for the next 10 years to cover operating costs and capital improvements.
The port and rail line need $27 million in repairs and upgrades during the next two years and an additional $235 million in the long term.
