A newly upgraded Neptune Bulk Terminals is gearing up to handle more
specialty agricultural products at the port of Vancouver.
Last week the company officially opened a new $17 million shipping
berth at its facility on the north shore of Burrard Inlet.
Berth 3, which has actually been operating for almost a year, is
capable of handling 2.5 million tonnes of agricultural products, such
as malting barley, peas, lentils and alfalfa, as well as fertilizer,
cubes and pellets.
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It won’t be handling anywhere near that volume this year, but Neptune
president Glenn Taylor said the company will be competing hard with
other special crop facilities such as Vancouver Wharves, which can
handle 1.5 million tonnes annually.
That can mean only good things for prairie farmers, he added.
“Competition is healthy for everyone,” he said in an interview the day
before the May 9 opening ceremonies.
During its 11 months of operation, the new system has handled 202,000
tonnes of grain products and 265,000 tonnes of fertilizer.
While Neptune is best known as a direct hit terminal, which transfers
products directly from rail cars to vessels, berth 3 has been designed
to include 33,000 tonnes of dry bulk storage bins that would be ideal
for agricultural products. However, that second phase of the project
comes with a $33 million price tag and has been put on hold.
“We’ll do that as demand dictates and customers indicate they want
storage on site,” Taylor said.
As an interim measure, the company is working with some customers to
provide short-term storage in rail cars. The terminal complex includes
four continuous loop tracks that can store 50- to 60-car unit trains.
While the railways aren’t enamoured of the idea of using rail cars for
storage, Taylor said Neptune has advised customers to look at the
option of leasing cars, which allows them to be stored on the company’s
tracks without incurring demurrage penalties from the railways.
- eptune also has 10,000 tonnes of existing storage, which is primarily
used for alfalfa pellets and feed products.
Taylor said his company can offer a number of advantages to shippers of
specialty agricultural products, including the ability to organize
direct hit shipments, a rail yard capable of marshalling cars and
handling 100-car unit trains, and specially designed gentle-handling
systems for fragile products, including high-speed covered pipe
conveyors.
- eptune has had discussions with the Canadian Wheat Board about using
the terminal to handle some CWB shipments and Taylor thinks there is
good potential for handling identity-preserved shipments.
“That kind of shipment lends itself to direct hit,” Taylor said.
“You minimize degradation of the product and it goes direct from rail
to vessel.”
