The facilities at the Port of Thunder Bay were kept busy during April with outbound grain shipments continuing at a strong pace.
As of April 30, the port’s year-to-date cargo volumes are 26 per cent above the ten-year average.
The port authority anticipates continued steady shipments through May. In addition to usual outbound grain, shipments of coal and potash rounded out dry bulk exports from Western Canada.
Other cargoes transiting the western Lake Superior port included inbound cargoes of road salt, liquid calcium chloride, and liquid petroleum.
Grain shipments in April came in at 652,491 tonnes, up from the 641,337 tonnes recorded during the same period last year.
Potash cargoes came close to doubling the totals from 2016 with 62,500 tonnes tabulated during the month, compared to 35,693 recorded last year.
Close to 80,000 tonnes of coal moved in April. There were no coal shipments during the same month in 2016.
Keefer Terminal, the port’s general cargo facility, handled project cargo destined for Western Canada, including four 250-tonne electrical transformers and a113-foot-long pressure vessel. A modularized structure was loaded at the terminal for marine transit to southern Ontario.
