Thunder Bay grain shipments up to start season

Glacier FarmMedia—Grain shipments out of the Port of Thunder Bay are running well ahead of average through the first few weeks of the 2024 shipping season.

After opening in late-March, grain shipments through the end of April of about 1.14 million tonnes were up by 25 per cent from the same time the previous year and were 11 per cent ahead of the five-year average, according to a news release.

Meanwhile, shipments of Western Canadian potash were roughly quadruple what moved the same time in 2023. Terminals in Thunder Bay loaded out 157,656 tonnes of potash in April, which compares with 35,693 tonnes the previous year. Canada is the world’s largest exporter of potash. Thunder Bay, the only export port on the Seaway for potash, handles shipments moving to Europe, North Africa, and South America.

A total of 61 vessels have called on the port to-date, which compares with 44 the previous year.