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Former Canada Wheat Board to open shipping terminal in Hamilton and others

Posted by Flaman Agriculture Oct 13, 2015

The Globe and Mail is reporting that:

The former Canadian Wheat Board is expanding its grain network under new owners – and a new name – with the construction of a year-round shipping terminal in Hamilton.

G3 Canada Ltd. said on Tuesday the 50,000-tonne port facility at the western edge of Lake Ontario will load wheat, soybean and corn grown in Southern Ontario onto Great Lakes ships and rail cars destined for G3’s ports in Trois-Rivières and Quebec City and buyers overseas.

Grain “production in Ontario has been growing at a pretty dramatic rate and we’ve been eyeing this [new terminal] as a key component in our eastern origination strategy for some time now,” said Karl Gerrand, chief executive officer of G3.

The terminal will compete with Richardson International Ltd. and Parrish & Heimbecker Ltd., which have terminals at the port, and other well-established agriculture companies in the region.

Mr. Gerrand said G3’s terminal, which will cost more than $50-million and is expected to be ready for the 2017 harvest, will offer rail service using the shortline Southern Ontario Railway to connect with the two major Canadian railways to Quebec so shipments will not halt when the St. Lawrence Seaway closes for the winter.

“We felt it was a real plus to be able to operate year-round,” Mr. Gerrand said in an interview from Winnipeg, where G3 has moved into CWB’s offices.
. . . .

In addition to seven grain elevators in Western Canada and four in Quebec, G3 has a port terminal in Thunder Bay, Ont., and is the early stages of designing and building a grain terminal at the Port of Vancouver.

Another four grain handling facilities are being built in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Mr. Gerrand said the Hamilton terminal completes the Southern Ontario grain pipeline, and the company will focus on expanding its reach in the Prairies with new inland terminals in Saskatchewan and Alberta that will feed the planned Vancouver terminal, which serves Asian markets.

Mr. Gerrand said the company is not considering a purchase of any Viterra grain assets that Glencore is believed to be trying to sell.
Posted in Farm related news | Tagged with wheat board shipping | More articles by Flaman Agriculture

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