G3 Canada to build grain elevator near Carmangay

A new grain buyer is looking for southern Alberta customers.

Winnipeg-based G3 Canada Ltd. has announced plans for a 42,000-tonne primary elevator southeast of Carmangay.

Officials say the state-of-the-art facility will be able to empty a SuperB grain hauler in less than five minutes – and load a 134-car hopper unit train on a loop track in a matter of hours.

Grain will be exported by Canadian Pacific rail through a new tidewater elevator in North Vancouver, where the hoppers will empty as the grain train slowly makes its way around a similar loop track.

“G3 Carmangay is designed to save farmers’ time and keep their grain moving to market,” says Don Chapman, the company’s chief executive officer.

“We’re looking forward to being part of the community in and around Vulcan County, and showing farmers how our industry-leading speed and efficiency can benefit their business.”

Construction “will begin shortly,” the company says, with completion expected in 2020 – when the new Vancouver harbour facility is also ready. Similar projects are already underway near Wetaskiwin and at Maidstone, a western Saskatchewan community on the Yellowhead Highway.

G3 has also completed similar projects recently near Saskatoon and Melville, Sask.

It also operates grain-handling facilities on the Great Lakes and as far east as Quebec City, and owns “the largest private fleet of grain hopper cars in Canada.”

The company was formed when the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Co. acquired the remaining assets of the Canadian Wheat Board – sold by the Stephen Harper government in 2015, after it had been stripped of its grain marketing operations.