WINNIPEG — Recent efforts to clear the transportation logjam crippling west coast grain exports this year don’t go far enough, agriculture minister Ralph Goodale said early this week.
“While we are pleased to see that there is an improvement … I think there is still a common consensus that more effort is needed,” Goodale told reporters as he emerged from a meeting with grain companies, railways, unions, regulatory agencies and the Canadian Wheat Board Monday.
Industry officials told Goodale Canada’s railcar fleet is expected to include 31,000 cars by early June, up from 22,000 cars last November. And just last week, the B.C. Terminal Operators Association and unionized workers settled a longstanding dispute over weekend unloading.
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Those two changes alone will shave up to three weeks from the backlog in Vancouver, but it is still expected to be mid-June before shipping returns to normal, said Lorne Hehn, chief commissioner of the Canadian Wheat Board.
Vessels wait in line
As of Monday, 23 vessels were waiting to load in Vancouver and nine due to arrive — which amounts to about a 900,000-tonne backlog.
Goodale said the situation highlights issues which must be addressed to avoid future problems.
From Monday’s meeting, he established a number of sub-committees which are to report back on those problem areas within two weeks.
“We cannot dismiss the last year as a fluke or an aberration that only happens once in a long while.”
At the top of the list was a commitment to end the practice of shipping grain to Thunder Bay under subsidized freight rates and then hauling it back to the prairies for export to the U.S.
The meeting also established a committee to examine sanctions for industry players who don’t live up to their commitments. Although provisions for sanctions exist under the Western Grain Transportation Act, a government order-in-council is required to impose them.
“Up until now there have been no regulations making that a possibility,” Goodale said.
Technical committees have also been assigned to address:
- Demurrage or storage charges for rail cars.
- Changes to terminal tariff regulations to accommodate increased costs faced by Vancouver operators due to weekend unloading.
- Whether changes must be made to pooling practices at terminals Ð particularly for canola and special crops.
- How the system for forecasting need for railcars can be improved.
- Whether companies should be allowed to bring private railcars into the system without affecting their regular car allocations.
Hehn said the meeting was important because it brought together all the players, including unions, for the first time.
“I think it identified a need for the industry to co-operate and work together,” said Leroy Larsen, president of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.
