With winter weather settling in across Western Canada and new rail legislation meant to protect grain shippers stalled in Ottawa, there are serious concerns that railways could fall further behind in shipping a larger-than-expected 2017 crop to market. According to data from the Ag Transport Coalition, which includes grain companies and some farm groups, CN… Read More
From Prince Rupert down to Vancouver’s Fraser River ports, grain companies are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure for loading grain onto ships destined for overseas markets. Just a few weeks ago, Raymont Logistics opened the only unit train stuffing facility on Canada’s west coast at Prince Rupert. In Vancouver, on the north shore of Burrard… Read More
In a year end grain report published today, CN reported that 21.8 million metric tonnes of grain was moved during the 2016-17 growing year, making it a record for the transportation company. “Through innovation, collaboration and improved communication with our supply chain partners, CN moved more grain in a single crop year than ever before,”… Read More
CN Rail appears to be making a concerted effort to increase its communication and outreach in the grain industry, from taking farm group leaders on a tour to Vancouver recently to adding weekly internal grain shipping stats to its website. The railway also had a significant presence at the Agribition Grain Expo in Regina last week,… Read More
This week on RealAg Radio, Shaun and Kelvin debated whether farmers were benefitting from the spat between the railways and the Western Grain Elevators Association, and more specifically executive director Wade Sobokowich. See More: Railways Offering “Pretty Good” Performance, Amid PR Effort and Finger-Pointing What do you think? Is this finger pointing by the railways… Read More
It’s not often we hear grain company spokespeople commend railways, but that’s the case this fall, as the grain supply chain handles one of the largest crops in Western Canadian history. “As a general statement, we think rail performance has been pretty good this fall,” says Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator… Read More
GrainsConnect Canada held a sod-turning for its first high-throughput grain terminal in Western Canada on Tuesday. The elevator will be built on CN Rail’s Prairie North line at Maymont, Saskatchewan, 90 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon. “This is a significant milestone for GrainsConnect Canada as it represents the first stage of our substantial investment in Canadian… Read More
Dear Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, It’s only the middle of June right now, but there’s potential for a big crop in Western Canada this fall. Alberta’s latest crop report pegged growing conditions at 80 percent good to excellent, eight percent better than the five-year average. The Saskatchewan ag ministry’s most recent update also… Read More
CN Rail on Thursday announced a multi-year program to spend around $500 million to improve its feeder rail lines in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. A news release from the company does not mention grain, but indicates the upgrades will occur on lines “handling rising volumes of industrial products, natural resources and energy-related commodities.” Approximately $100 million… Read More
CN Rail exceeded its volume-based “cap” on grain revenue in the 2013-14 crop year by almost $5 million, according to a ruling issued by the Canadian Transportation Agency today. The CTA says CN’s grain revenue of $672,110,852 was $4,981,915 above its entitlement of $667,128,937. Under federal regulations, the railway now has 30 days to pay the… Read More
The federal government is extending — but also reducing — the weekly minimum grain shipping requirements for Canada’s two national railways, as it aims to resolve the remainder of the grain backlog in Western Canada. A new Order in Council will take effect on Sunday, November 30th and require CN and CP Rail move between 200,000 and 465,000 tonnes of grain… Read More
Canada’s two major railways have changed they way they process requests for grain cars in Western Canada. To deter shippers from ordering more cars than they can handle, both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific are capping the number of outstanding orders a grain shipper can have in their systems. As of September 14th, the total… Read More
The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) has decided it will not hear the Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA) Level of Service Complaint originally filed on May 26, 2014. In its decision, which responds to motions to dismiss from both railways, the CTA concluded there was not sufficient evidence to proceed with the complaint, according to a… Read More
The organization representing major grain elevator companies in Western Canada says it believes both Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) have failed to meet weekly grain shipping requirements for extended periods of time since the weekly minimum thresholds were implemented back in March. The federal agriculture minister confirmed last week that the… Read More
The National Energy Board has published some interesting numbers as data tallies were finalized for 2013’s fourth quarter. The data shows drastic increases in rail movement of crude oil from 2012 to 2013. In 2012, October to December rail movement of crude oil was tallied at a little over 1.1M cubic metres (12.6K m³ per day). In… Read More