![]() “It also allows smaller customers like feed mills, who can’t buy in the quantities required for bulk, to participate in the market.” “If a small shipper in Saskatchewan is sending lentils, they won’t be using a bulk terminal, so the container option lets others play in the market and get access to water,” said Giles. As well, not everyone has access to bulk terminals. Shippers will often realize a greater profit margin from containerized shipping, though this depends on the country and product involved, and returns vary from year to year. “When shipping a premium product, you can tell which railcar it came from, so it’s easier to track shipments for identity preserved products.” “There is a lower capital outlay involved as you can buy in smaller quantities than with bulk shipping,” said Giles. Container shipping may also lead to higher profit margins as compared to bulk shipment. Among the benefits of container grain shipping is the ease of tracking they allow for premium, identity-preserved products. While it has its pros and cons, the benefits of containerized shipping are of particular interest to specialty crop sellers. Today, peas and lentils are transported mostly in bulk, but about 30 per cent of specialty crops still rely on containers. For example, increased pea acreage is reflected in an expanded bulk market for the crop. This has shifted, largely due to growth in crop volumes grown and changes in market demand for specific crops. “The other option is to load a bunch of hopper cars with loose product, take them by rail to Vancouver or Montreal and hand them off to a transloader for placement in containers and subsequent shipping,” said Northey.Īccording to Northey, 25 years ago, the majority of specialty crops were shipped in containers as volumes were lower. ![]() One route is for a processing plant to collect an empty container, fill it and transport it to a CN or CP facility. There it is loaded onto a train, taken to port and placed directly on a container vessel. There are two common approaches to utilize containerized shipping. There is a lot of investment in this area, and a supply chain devoted to this stream of movement.” Vancouver alone has six transloaders who specialize in this, where they take hopper cars full of grain and stuff them into containers at the port. “There is a whole ecosystem supply chain built up around container shipping. “And when you deal with specialty crops like pulses, barley and some canola, containers make the most sense. “Especially when you get into markets that can’t take a bulk vessel, containers are absolutely the way to go,” said Greg Northey, VP of corporate affairs for Pulse Canada. These crops have become the nation’s largest containerized crop exports. Though malt may have started the container trend, crops such as peas, beans and lentils have since been recognized for their potential to utilize this method. If there is rust in the box, we will paint over it to prevent rust transfer.” If we have a box coming back from China with tires in it, Japan doesn’t want their container smelling of rubber. “Customers in Japan want to ensure there is less dirt and dust touching the product and want quality guarantees. ![]() Located on the port’s south shore, the company operates a transloader facility that specializes in malt shipments to Japan. “It’s more expensive to get nicer container boxes, but Japan sets a high standard,” said Dean Giles, general manager of Columbia Containers. While countries such as Korea are less fussy, Japanese buyers demand the best and willingly pay a premium for it. This spawned the transloading process, where hopper cars brought malt grains to the coast and offloaded them into shipping containers.” Brewers in Japan and China recognized they could better account for malt quality by transporting product in smaller batches via containers.Īs malting barley is typically a high-end product, it is shipped in high-quality containers that are newer, cleaner and sport a polyethylene liner to protect the contents. “It came about through the malting industry, as brewers in Japan and China recognized they could get a better handle on quality from the source to the brewery by sending product in smaller batches via containers. “Containerized shipping of specialty crops has been going on for some time now,” said Doug Mills, senior account representative with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. Though this mode of transport is not without its challenges, more and more shippers see it as a viable alternative to bulk movement. To think outside the box can be good for business as containerized shipping gains popularity in the Canadian grain industry. PHOTOS COURTESY OF VANCOUVER FRASER PORT AUTHORITY.
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