The 2021 shipping season is underway at the Port of Thunder Bay, Ont. Tug Sharon M1 and Barge Huron Spirit arrived at the Port of Thunder Bay March 26, signaling the start of the new navigation season. The tug and barge are owned and operated by McKeil Marine of Burlington, Ont. The barge carried a […] Read more
Tag Archives grain transportation — page 2
Thunder Bay kicks off new shipping season
The 2021 shipping season is underway at the Port of Thunder Bay, Ont. Tug Sharon M1 and Barge Huron Spirit arrived at the Port of Thunder Bay March 26, signaling the start of the new navigation season. The tug and barge are owned and operated by McKeil Marine of Burlington, Ont. The barge carried a […] Read more
Nasty February magnifies supply chain issues
One consequence is an imbalance between grain stocks in country elevators and stocks at west coast export terminals
Frigid temperatures in February have thrown a speedbump in front of what has otherwise been an exceptional year for bulk grain movement. Canada’s bulk supply chain is still feeling the effects of a two- to three-week cold snap in February that slowed rail traffic, disrupted export sales programs and pushed grain inventories in the country […] Read more
Bill Gates owns largest ownership stake at CN
The founder of Microsoft is also the largest farmland owner in the United States and has invested heavily in plant protein
The fourth richest man in the world has quietly become by far the biggest shareholder in Canada’s largest railway. Microsoft founder Bill Gates has amassed a sizeable ownership stake in Canadian National Railway Co. Most of those shares were acquired through Cascade Investment LLC, an investment firm solely owned by Gates. Cascade owns 101,400,770 shares, […] Read more
Grain drives Thunder Bay’s successful year
Officials with the Port of Thunder Bay say the 2020 shipping season was the port’s most successful in more than two decades. The northern Ontario port moved nearly 10.2 million tonnes of cargo in 2020, up from 9.3 million tonnes in 2019. Higher grain volumes were a key driver behind the port’s improved cargo volumes. […] Read more
Cabinet shuffle produces new transport minister
A small cabinet shuffle in Ottawa has resulted in changes in three portfolios, including transport. Omar Alghabra is a newcomer to cabinet, although he served as parliamentary secretary to the minister of international trade diversification. First elected in 2006, he represents Mississauga Centre. While much of his focus will be on the airline industry, which […] Read more
Grain handling system sees major overhaul
Every element of the system has radically evolved since the mid-1990s, from trucks to elevators to trains to ports
In almost every way, the Canadian grain handling and exporting system is a quantum leap forward from where it was a quarter of a century ago. “There’s been more change in the last 25 years than, I think, the previous 50,” said Mark Hemmes, the president of the federally appointed grain handling monitor Quorum Corp. […] Read more
Major railways exceed revenue cap
The pandemic has hit railways hard, as shipments of commodities and consumer demand fell for much of 2020. However, there was one bright spot for the railways — grain. Canadian Pacific Railway’s grain shipping revenue was a hair below $1 billion as it earned $999,230,808 during the 2019-20 crop year. Canadian National Railway’s grain revenue […] Read more
Transport changes get good reviews
Grain industry players say the legislation that modernized transportation regulations two years ago is generally working as intended. Bill C-49, formally known as the Transportation Modernization Act, passed in the spring of 2018 with the promises of more transparency from the railways, reciprocal penalties within service agreements and long-haul interswitching options, among others. Farmers applauded […] Read more
Grain still pouring through Thunder Bay
Prairie grain continued to flow through the Ontario Port of Thunder Bay at a brisk pace last month, buoyed by strong export demand for wheat and a rail system that’s been moving grain at a record pace since early March. Chris Heikkinen, finance and communications co-ordinator with the Thunder Bay Port Authority, said the port […] Read more
