Pandemic keeps grain moving in Thunder Bay

Jul 16, 2020

The port moved 1.1 million tonnes of grain in May

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

One bright spot during the COVID-19 outbreak may be that the Port of Thunder Bay is busy facilitating exports of Canadian grain.

The port moved 1.1 million tonnes of grain in May and most shipments went overseas. For comparison, the port moved 901,000 tonnes of grain in May 2019.

Drought in countries like Australia, export restrictions in Russia and overall increased demand led buyers to look at Canadian grain this year, said Tim Heney, CEO of the Port of Thunder Bay.

“It’s kind of a coincidence of events you might say,” he told Farms.com. “The pandemic caused some countries to outlaw grain exports to protect domestic food supplies. We had a lower Canadian dollar that created demand and put Canada in a good position. We also had a large carry-over from last year caused by the rail blockades.”

Ocean vessel traffic increased at the port, contributing to the larger number of grain shipments.

Between Jan. 1 and May 31, 2019, 95 ocean vessels came through the port’s docks. During the same period in 2020, that number jumped to 119. The number of foreign vessels also grew from 24 in the first five months of 2019 to 41 in the same window in 2020.

“The pandemic seems to be making the (Great Lakes St. Lawrence) Seaway a more appealing route,” Heney said. “I could see this trend continuing.”

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