Paterson Grain says it has shipped the largest-ever grain train on the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP Rail) network. According to the company, the train consisted of 167 new high-capacity hopper cars, and carried 16,313 metric tonnes of grain from Paterson’s Foothills Terminal in Bowden, Alta., to the Alliance Grain Terminal in Vancouver. Paterson reports the… Read More
A regulation change in 2014 requiring updating and potentially upgrading some rail crossings means several Manitoba farmers are on the hook for thousands in work to be done by CP Rail. A representative for the railway says it’s just enforcing the Grade Crossing Regulations and Grade Crossing Standards set out by Transport Canada nearly six… Read More
Amid all the pandemic-related challenges in agriculture, grain movement has been a bright spot heading into the 2020 growing season. Canadian Pacific Railway (CP Rail) says it moved more than 6.35 million metric tonnes (MMT) of grain during the first three months of 2020, surpassing its previous first-quarter record, set in 2016, by 300 thousand… Read More
I’ve seen over the last few days a lot of stories, comments, and mixed messages about farmers having to dump milk. I thought I’d clear a few things up with my perspective, direct from the farm. We were included in the farmers asked to dump milk. We dumped a little over 4,000 litres of raw,… Read More
A tumultuous and trying winter grain shipping season is wrapping up on a much higher note, thanks to decent weather, resolved blockades, and fully-opened tracks. Sean Finn, executive vice-president of corporate services and chief legal officer for CN Rail, says that although the railway is taking extra precautions regarding COVID-19, the network is working well… Read More
Getting essential supplies to destinations is critical during the COVID-19. Truck drivers have been thrust into the spotlight as road transport is one of the essential services as outlined by governments In response to COVID-19, the Government of Saskatchewan is temporarily modifying hours of service regulations for commercial truck drivers. One of the listed categories under… Read More
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic ban began impacting trade flows out — and in — to China and other overseas markets, Canada’s railways were struggling to catch up from a challenging shipping season. An 8-day strike, closed western lines due to slides, and then the blockades in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people of B.C., meant… Read More
Grain elevators in both western and eastern Canada are reporting delays in accessing containers to fill for overseas customers. Regular train traffic is catching up after a series of setbacks this winter — a strike, a rock slide on the western tracks, and then blockades — but container traffic is another beast entirely. Container traffic… Read More
It can be easy to think about Canadian grain, canola, soybeans, or meat as just commodities — a product bought and sold, traded, and shipped. And that’s true, of course, but those commodities are also eventual meals for Canadian customers, even if those customers live in places such as Sri Lanka, Indonesia, or the Philippines…. Read More
The Canadian Federation of Agriculture is calling on the federal government to resolve the issues with railway blockades, as agriculture sits on a “tipping point” of lost revenue, lost trade, and potentially an animal welfare issue, as propane, once again, is not making its way east. In Quebec, 85 per cent of poultry barns are… Read More
Protesters standing in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en First Nation’s protest of the Coastal GasLink pipeline project have set up blockades in three provinces — Ontario, B.C., and now Manitoba — significantly impacting rail movement and precipitating CN Rail to cancel hundreds of train movements. Many in the agriculture industry are nervous about what this means for… Read More
Rail blockades near Belleville, Ont. and in northern B.C. in support of a B.C. oil pipeline standoff in Wet’suwet’en territory will soon begin to significantly impact CN Rail’s network if they’re not removed, the company says. CN Rail notes the blockades are unrelated to CN’s activities, however the Belleville line is CN’s only eastern link… Read More
The ongoing labour dispute at the Co-op Refinery Complex at Regina, Sask., has led Federated Co-op Ltd (FCL) to start rationing fuel at some of its cardlock facilities on the Prairies, impacting farmers, emergency services, truckers, and other drivers who normally rely on cardlocks to supply larger quantities of fuel. A message posted by several… Read More
Plans for a farmer-owned grain and commodity handling facility in southeast Saskatchewan have officially been cancelled. At a meeting in Weyburn on Tuesday, shareholders in Comtrax Logistics Solutions voted unanimously to wind down operations, citing “challenging trade conditions and economic uncertainty.” The farmer-led group, formally launched in 2015, was planning to build a 260-plus car… Read More
The Canadian National Railway Company (CN) and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company (CP) will not have overage-related payouts or penalties due to falling below their respective maximum grain revenue entitlements for the 2018-19 crop year. The amount of western grain moved under the MRE program during 2018-19 was 46,060,737 tonnes, 13.4% more than the volume… Read More