Prairie grain handler G3 plans to add another 76,000 tonnes of grain handling capacity in southwestern Saskatchewan and eastern Alberta.
The Winnipeg company announced Thursday it will start work in early 2020 on new grain elevators at Swift Current, Sask. and Vermilion, Alta. for completion in 2021.
Both new elevators are to be built with “high-efficiency features” including a loop track that can “quickly” load a 150-car unit train and capacity to unload a Super B truck in less than five minutes, the company said.
The Swift Current elevator is to be built on Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) track, with grain storage capacity of 42,000 tonnes, while the Vermilion facility will be built on Canadian National Railway (CN) track with capacity of 34,000 tonnes.
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As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
For a company that started 2018 with no Alberta elevators, Thursday’s announcement adds to a construction schedule that already includes five others in the province, at Wetaskiwin, Morinville, Carmangay and Irricana and near Erskine in Stettler County.
G3 also has a new Vancouver export terminal under construction and due to open next year.
G3 CEO Don Chapman said the company’s network “has been steadily growing to serve some of the most productive grain growing regions in Western Canada” and the two new sites will give farmers “fast and efficient option(s) for moving their grain to market.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network
