(Resource News International) — Manitoba’s northern Port of Churchill is gearing up for its 2008 season with Canadian Wheat Board grains, non-board grains and a host of other items on the list of commodities expected to be moved through the facility, according to an official with the Churchill Gateway Development Corporation.
“We are definitely looking at doing more business through the facility in 2008,” said Bill Drew, executive director of the Churchill Gateway Development Corp. “We are looking for both a lot more inbound and outbound shipments.”
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From the grains side, there are plans for another significant year of movement, Drew said, but added that the Arctic supply business has also been taking off and that there was a lot of business on this front now in the process of being booked.
“We have been working in conjunction with the Canadian Wheat Board in hopes of establishing another strong program in 2008, but no specifics have yet been finalized,” Drew said.
During the 2007 shipping season, just over 620,000 tonnes of CWB grains were moved through the port, he said.
Drew said there has been some concern about the supply of grain available in Western Canada, which could still impact grain movement from the northern port.
“While the extreme market volatility this year makes it impossible to accurately predict our Churchill program this early, we would expect to at least see an average volume of shipments through that port,” said Maureen Fitzhenry, the CWB’s media relations manager.
Based on a 10-year average, the CWB has shipped 410,000 tonnes of board grains out of the port and overseas through Hudson Bay each year, Fitzhenry said.
She said the northern port is an attractive alternative for western Canadian farmers and the CWB because supply-chain costs associated with the Churchill corridor are lower than many other shipping alternatives.
Drew also said the Churchill Gateway Development Corp. is working with a group aimed at increasing non-board grain shipments from the facility.
“There had been plans to move canola and feed peas through the Port of Churchill during 2007, but a strategic decision was made to just concentrate on board grains,” Drew said. “As a result, no non-board grains were moved through the facilities in 2007.”
Based on early indications, he said, there will be a couple of non-board grain shipments during 2008, but it may still be another three weeks before those details are finalized.
Bulk handling
During the 2007 shipping season, there were also 9,000 tonnes of bagged fertilizer moved through the port, Drew said. “It appears that this amount will be duplicated during 2008 and there is a possibility that the shipments will be expanded,” he said.
Drew said this side of the business was likely to increase, especially if plans to build a bulk handling facility fall into place.
In terms of Arctic supplies moving through the facility, Drew estimated shipments in 2007 at just over 20,000 dry tons.
“The figure is a bit harder to quantify as items included in the tonnage involved refrigerators and other such products,” he said. Most of the Arctic supplies were forwarded to operations in Nunavut.
An expansion of these shipments was also forecast for 2008, Drew said.
Efforts to improve movement from the northern port also include the hiring of a consulting firm, Drew said, noting that the consulting company will look at all aspects of the business.
Drew also said the CGDC was looking at hiring a special consultant that is well versed in marine law, in hopes of lowering insurance costs.
“This consultant would examine the Port of Churchill setup, as well as the administrative hurdles at Transport Canada and Canada’s Coast Guard,” Drew said.
Last year, the first ship of the season arrived at the Port of Churchill to load Board grain on July 20, 2007, Drew said. The ship could have easily sailed into the northern port as early as July 1 with the assistance of ice-breaking vessels, had it not been waiting for permission from the Canadian Coast Guard.
Drew said it was hoped that the marine law consultant would be able to make recommendations that ultimately would result in Lloyds of London providing more favorable insurance rates for vessels transiting the northern port.
Drew said no closing date has been established for the northern port’s 2008 shipping season, but it would not be unreasonable to think operations would come to a close by the end of October or early November.
The Churchill Gateway Development Initiative represents a new public-private venture with OmniTRAX, the owner of the Bay Rail Line and the Port of Churchill. The Initiative proposes to develop strategies to grow and diversify the type and quantity of goods shipped through the Port.
OmniTRAX Canada bought the Port of Churchill and the 1,400 km of track that service the area from Transport Canada and the Manitoba provincial government in August 1997. OmniTRAX Canada is owned by Denver-based OmniTRAX, one of the largest private operators of shortline freight railroads in North America. The company operates 12 shortlines in seven states and three provinces, plus related businesses such as locomotive leasing, real estate, intraplant switching, intermodal operations and the Port of Churchill.
OmniTRAX Canada officials have previously stated that in order to make the Port of Churchill viable, an estimated one million tonnes of product must be exported during each shipping season.
Improvements made at Churchill since OmniTRAX Canada took control in 1997 had increased optimism that shipments of grains, oilseeds and speciality crops would increase substantially.
There had also been hopes of stimulating both “inward and outward” movement of other bulk commodities, including copper concentrate, nickel and fertilizers, as well as containers.
Traditionally, Churchill’s shipping season has been limited to between late July and late October due to its location in the frigid northern regions of Manitoba. However, that time frame has been widened in recent years and a ship once loaded grain in late November 1995, although it needed the help of an icebreaker to traverse the Arctic waters.
