Port authority feels pinch from parkway completion

Completion a year ago of the $1.4-billion Herb Gray Parkway caused a drop in 2016 for overall cargo handled by the Windsor Port Authority.

Final numbers have not yet been tallied by the local port, but on the positive side the amount of grain coming in and out of the Port of Windsor has increased by 47 per cent so far this season, said port CEO David Cree.

“We’ve had huge volumes of canola and soybeans coming into the ADM terminal to be processed into a variety of food and feed inputs, as well as grains and processed grains for export overseas,” he said.

But total cargo volumes “have been hit by a decline in stone” following completion of the parkway — where construction on the 11-kilometre Highway 401 extension in Windsor wrapped up near the end of 2015. Cree also noted how this past year steel imports to the port for local construction, piping and tubing projects “have also almost doubled.”

With construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge scheduled to begin in about 18 months, Cree concluded that the port authority is already anticipating “a recovery” of total cargo volumes in the near future when the massive border crossing project swings into gear.

Overall for the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp., total cargo shipments reached 30.3 million metric tons for the period from March 21 to Nov. 30. Unusually for this time of year, dozens of ships were still in the navigation system in December.

“Given current temperatures and ice conditions, we’re expecting a smooth closing of the seaway at the end of December,” said Terence Bowles, president and CEO of the seaway corporation.

“In these final weeks, the waterway will be a busy export corridor for the U.S. Midwest, Canadian prairie and Ontario harvests, as well as a conduit for iron ore, road salt and other raw materials for manufacturers and cities to stockpile for the winter.”

Grain shipments (Canadian and U.S.) via the Seaway totalled 9.4 million metric tonnes up to the end of November — in line with numbers in 2015, he said.