Grain shipments one bright spot in Seaway traffic so far this year

  • National Newswatch

Overall traffic down from 2019.Ottawa-Propelled by surging grain exports, the St. Lawrence Seaway had some good news to report in its traffic figures to the end of June. While overall traffic was down about eight per cent compared to the same period last year, grain exports were 3.3 per cent higher and prospects look for good for the rest of the shipping season.The Port of Thunder Bay is benefitting from the grain demand in Europe and the Middle East with year-to-date shipments totaling 3.3 million tonnes, which is about 35 per cent above the five-year average. The Port expects to see above-average grain shipments continue through the summer.“One benefit of the increase in grain volumes is that shippers start to build efficiencies into the system, incentivizing them to continue using the system in future periods,” said Tim Heney, Chief Executive Officer at the Port of Thunder Bay.The Windsor Port Authority saw its shipments of Ontario grains rise boosting its overall cargo tonnage by 2.4 per cent for the month compared to last year. Steve Salmons, the Port's President & CEO, said, “Grain shipments continue to exceed the prior year while aggregate shipments continue to recover from the early-year impact of COVID-19's delay for construction projects.”The Hamilton-Oshawa Port Authority said imports of fertilizer and potash and other commodities helped improve its numbers. The year-to-date totals for these agricultural-sector commodities were up about 9 per cent through June compared to the same period last year.“The fact that we are seeing more fertilizer coming through the ports of Hamilton and Oshawa is a good signal of confidence in the region's agricultural production going forward,” said Ian Hamilton, HOPA Ports' President & CEO. “We expect to see this translate into accelerated exports of Ontario grain and soybeans later in the season.”The Port of Johnstown has ships booked to load corn later this year. Robert Dalley, the Port's General Manager for the Port of Johnstown, said, “With the harvest looking like it could be a banner year, we are feeling very positive about our position. With the recent expansion project at the port including the addition of a monster 16,000 mt grain bin, we have ample capacity to handle a big harvest. The recent rains in our area in the past couple of days are much needed and will certainly help with the quality and size of harvest.”Terence Bowles, President and CEO of Seaway Management Corp. said, “Canadian grain exports through our trade corridor accelerated in June but we also saw improvements in shipments of construction materials such as stone, cement and gypsum as COVID-19 restrictions continue to be lifted.”The Seaway, which delayed opening this year to April 1 to help lower high-water levels in the Great Lakes, has decided to extend the Welland Canal navigation season by approximately one week into January for a trial period of five years. The end of the navigation season will be determined closer to the end of the year.The Canal was kept open for the first week of 2020 and while it attracted extra business, many shippers said they received notice of the extension too late to take advantage of it. It's expected the mid-July announcement should help boost business.Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.