If you have been involved in the growing, or selling, of grain in Western Canada, you are likely quite familiar with the Port of Churchill.
The port has had a storied history, although it depends on perspective whether it has been good news, or bad news in terms of the storyline.
As with most things, especially something with the extended history of Canada’s northern port, there is a mix of good and bad.
The Port of Churchill and Hudson Bay Rail line infrastructure was constructed in the 1930s to, according to www.portofchurchill.ca, facilitate the export of grain and commodities from Western Canada, the import of industrial goods to the Northern Hemisphere, the development of northern industry and community development, and the strategic requirement of defense and sovereignty for Canada.
The initial goals of Canada’s only deep water port on arctic water were solid in the 30s, and frankly remain worthwhile ideals today.
But in the approximate nine decades since its construction, the Port has rarely achieved much more than minor status in terms of exports, and those have often been pegged for shiploads of product.
“During the 1930s, the Port of Churchill exported quantities of honey, lumber, and livestock. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the Port was used to import automobiles, liquor, pipe, tractors, transmission towers, machinery, and sodium nitrate. Products that were exported included wheat, cobalt oxide, and nickel slabs,” notes the website.
But in recent decades the port moved Prairie grain and little else, making the facility highly reliant on the Canadian Wheat Board for shipments for its viability before the CWB was dismantled.
Grain exports through the port ebbed and flowed through the years at a port which is iced in for much of the year and is accessible only between late July and early November.
But some grain moved every year, at least until 2016.
The Port has been shut down and will not ship any grain for the first time since the Second World War.
“About 30 employees received two-week layoff notices on July 25 from owner, OmniTrax Canada,” detailed www.winnipegfreepress.com. “Many more employees were still waiting to be recalled for the shipping season, which runs to the end of October… About 50 grain cars were in The Pas en route to Churchill Monday, said the Hudson Bay Route Association. Those cars are apparently turning around and heading back.”
It is interesting that the port is closing in a year when the grain crop is being touted as potentially a record one.
The last record crop was such that the Canadian grain handling system bogged down and was unable to move product in a timely fashion.
One might have thought the northern port would have been an asset in doing a better job in the months ahead.
But it seems current ownership is wanting out.
The Port itself has government roots.
“Until 1997, the Port was owned by the Government of Canada through a crown corporation called Ports Canada. In 1997, the Canadian government was divesting its interest in many crown corporations and sold the Port to OmniTrax, owned by The Broe Group and headquartered in Denver, Colorado. During this time, the government also privatized Canadian National Railway which operated the rail line between The Pas and Churchill. In the same year Canadian National Railway sold the line to OmniTrax, the current owner and operator of Hudson Bay Railway,” explains the website.
The facilities have reportedly been shopped to prospective buyers, not that mothballing their port would seem conducive to that effort.
Certainly there are issues, particularly a rail line over permafrost that may not be fully capable of handling current rolling stock in a cost-effective fashion.
A northern port, while facing challenges in terms of season and access, still has the potential to play a role in a country as large as ours. Hopefully, the loss of a 2016 season will not herald the end to the potential envisioned in the 1930s, which remains relevant if a co-operative approach can achieve them.
