
Grain off the rails: Transportation update
Grain companies have not been pleased with either railways’ ability to meet hopper car orders this winter.
Mark Hemmes with Quorum Corp monitors railway performance on behalf of grain companies and several farm organizations. He participated in a webinar sponsored by the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission.
Hemmes addressed several questions raised by producers about his views on how to get grain moving on time. One question was about achieving a better balance between the different rail corridors. Hemmes said detailed analysis has shown this is not possible.
“Vancouver and Prince Rupert are seeing vessels that are actually going into the Mediterranean quite often. It’s just cheaper to take it out of Vancouver, go through the Panama Canal and then back across. That’s the way the economics structures it,” Hemmes said. “You can’t change the directional flow of traffic based on railway convenience, so unless they’re willing to make up the difference in the price or the cost of it by lowering their rail freight rates to make that work, it’s never going to happen.”