With winter freeze-up and the Great Lakes shipping season coming to a close, the Port of Thunder Bay recorded its highest volume of cargo since 1998.
The port authority marked a combined 9.3 million tonnes of grain, coal, potash, and other cargoes moving through the northwestern Ontario harbour this past year, a 43 per cent increase from 2013 and an increase of 29 per cent over a five-year average.
The port experienced a strong December for grain with 1.1 million tonnes moved during the month, bringing the year’s tally to 8.3 million tonnes, the highest grain volume since 1997.
The port’s elevators had to make room for a bumper Western Canadian grain crop from 2013 as well as this past year’s harvest that, combined with a harsh winter on the Prairies, proved taxing to Canada’s major rail carriers to move to Thunder Bay.
Usually heavy ice on Lake Superior delayed the port’s opening date last spring by four weeks, resulting in an increase in ship traffic. The harbour saw 438 vessel calls, up from 331 the previous year, including 127 ocean-going ships, the most in a decade.
As the season wraps up the authority expects three freighters will lay up in Thunder Bay for the winter.
