February 18, 2013

Saskatchewan logistics hub moves forward

A Toronto-based company is developing a logistics hub in Saskatchewan, which will provide Canadian farmers and oil producers with a new export option to the United States.

“The Northgate hub is good news for Canada’s economy and particularly good for Saskatchewan and Western Canada,” said Michael Detlefsen, president of Ceres Global Ag Corp., which is an agricultural grain storage and supply chain business.

“It will help ease the bottleneck of getting commodities – especially grain and oil - out of Saskatchewan and will provide a new and competitive option for shippers and exporters.”

Ceres announced on Feb. 5 that it has purchased 1,500 acres of land in Northgate, Saskatchewan where it intends to construct a new commodity logistics hub.

The facility will include two high efficiency rail loops, each capable of handling unit trains of up to 120 railcars.

One loop will be dedicated to a grain handling and shipping facility, and the other to loading and shipping oil.

The facility is designed to handle up to 40 million bushels of grain annually and 70,000 barrels of oil per day.

Construction is scheduled to start this spring, with initial grain and oil shipments expected later in 2013.

The facility will be built over three years and the total capital cost is budgeted to be $90 million.

More than 100 construction jobs will be created.

The project is the result of a partnership between Ceres and the Scoular Company, which is a major U.S.-based agricultural marketing company.

Ceres’ grain subsidiary, Riverland Ag, will be a major customer of the grain facility, and will work closely with Scoular on the procurement of certain grains.

The connection to BNSF’s network will give shippers direct access to customers in 28 states, numerous Pacific and Gulf ports, and Mexico along BNSF’s 32,000 mile network, including more than 45 crude-by-rail destinations.

The logistics centre will also unload imported equipment and materials for Saskatchewan’s resource sector. Ceres owns Riverland Ag Corp., an agricultural grain storage and supply chain management business that was started in 2006.

It operates 15 grain storage facilities, located in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming, New York, and in Ontario.

JOC NEWS SERVICE

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