The Port of Johnstown will receive $2 million towards the purchase and installation of a new grain dryer with heat capture and air recycling features that will minimize fuel consumption by roughly 20 to 40 percent. The reduction in fuel use will result in an estimated 344 metric tonnes of CO2e, annually. Funded through the… Read More
Category: Logistics
Canada’s railways are navigating two notable federal policy changes — new rules regarding downtime for railway workers and the return of extended interswitching — as they prepare to move the 2023 crop from Western Canada to market. Both CN and CPKC have published their 2023-24 grain plans to mark the start of the 2023-24 crop… Read More
Rail conductors, port workers, government staff, and even grocery store employees either are in the midst of a strike or have been on strike, sometimes more than once, in the last few years. Work stoppages are on the rise in several industries, but there’s more friction than just between employee and employer: disagreements and rifts… Read More
Both of Canada’s major railways — Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) — have published their annual grain transportation plans, coinciding with the start of 2023-24 crop year on August 1. Federal legislation that was implemented after the grain backlog that occurred ten years ago this fall requires the railways to submit… Read More
Law enforcement officials say they seized over 63 kilograms of suspected cocaine from a commercial truck hauling corn into Canada at the Emerson port of entry on the Manitoba-North Dakota border. A team of Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) dogs found the drugs in a modified compartment in the trailer carrying corn on July 14,… Read More
A new face to agriculture, but certainly not a new face on Parliament Hill, Kyle Larkin has stepped up to lead the Grain Growers of Canada. Larkin has served in political and lobbying efforts for a decade, including working with two Members of Parliament one of whom served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister…. Read More
Port workers in B.C. who have been on strike for the past 13 days will be returning to work, after the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada agreed to a proposal from federal mediators on Thursday. The two sides have reached a tentative four-year agreement and are finalizing… Read More
While bulk grain shipments are continuing to flow, fertilizer exports from the West Coast have been interrupted by the ongoing port worker strike. Over 7,000 port workers with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union have been on strike since Saturday, Fertilizer Canada has joined other industry and business organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce,… Read More
Richardson International has announced plans to upgrade eight elevators located on Canadian Pacific Kansas City rail lines in Western Canada. The work will allow these sites to load longer trains under CPKC’s 8,500-foot high efficiency product (HEP) model. The company says construction is set to begin at Richardson Pioneer locations in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba… Read More
Trade between countries is so much more than railways and ports, but if it can’t move, it can’t be sold. Canada is an export nation, but currently ranks just ahead of Azerbaijan according to the World Economic Forum’s rankings on infrastructure, transport infrastructure and trade infrastructure, says Carlo Dade, vice-president of Canada West Foundation. A… Read More
American grain giant Bunge and Viterra, owned by Switzerland’s Glencore, are reportedly in talks to become one super grain company. In a reversal of a few years ago, this time it appears it is Bunge setting out to take on Viterra to create a company that would have extensive assets in nearly every grain type… Read More
Last year, spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food set out to better understand the impact of international volatility on grain and other commodity markets and the possible need for global aid. Following that process, the Committee then decided to look further in to global food insecurity, by starting… Read More
Three railways — CN Rail, Union Pacific Railroad and GMXT — are working collaboratively under what they’re calling Falcon Premium intermodal service, a Mexico-US-Canada service with rail connection in Chicago, Illinois. Falcon Premium will directly connect all CN origin points within Canada and Detroit, Michigan, to GMXT terminals in Mexico, namely at Monterrey, Nuevo Leon,… Read More
A group of 13 commodity and farm organizations representing grain shippers are calling on the federal government to move ahead with a commitment to bring back extended interswitching in the Canadian rail system. The 2023 federal budget included a promise to implement an 18-month pilot trial for extended interswitching. Interswitching allows a shipper that’s served… Read More
The Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) has modified some of its procedures for inspecting grain as it’s loaded onto ships on the West Coast, as 65 per cent of the CGC’s employees, including grain inspectors, are participating in the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) strike. “Inspection staff that are not in a strike position are… Read More