Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. On behalf of the Thunder Bay Port Authority, I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to appear before you here today. The history of the Port of Thunder Bay is based on grain transportation. The first grain elevator in the port began operations in 1884.

Agriculture committee  Well, certainly car turnaround is a big factor. I think the elevators in Thunder Bay have come a long way in that regard. A lot has to do with the incentives placed on larger car blocks. They've responded to that. There are a couple of facilities in Thunder Bay that are capable o

Agriculture committee  In terms of the car turnaround time, I'd have to defer to CN about how long it would take to get the cars back from Quebec versus going to Thunder Bay. The economic impact is generally considered to be $50 a tonne. So on 850,000 tonnes a year, you're looking at about $400,000 fo

Agriculture committee  I'm sorry, it would be $4 million.

Agriculture committee  They say that they're unreliable in supply, that the ocean rates fluctuate, and they gave various other reasons. The quandary we're left in is that most of our non-board grains that go through the port, which comprise about 35% of the grain, are carried almost exclusively in salt

Agriculture committee  About 65% of the grain through Thunder Bay is Wheat Board grain. The remainder is non-board. We have a variety of users of the port system, and there doesn't seem to be a real consensus as to the effect the Wheat Board and its single desk would have if it were modified. There are

Agriculture committee  To my way of thinking, there are two parts to the seaway. One is the lower lakes and one is the full route all the way to Thunder Bay. And grain is the only option in Thunder Bay at this point. We have coal and we have potash to smaller degrees, but in its history, grain has been

Agriculture committee  As the port has adapted to some of these modern operating methods, like 24-hour rail loading and things like that, the Grain Commission in Thunder Bay has been rather slow to adapt to those kinds of working conditions. On occasion, they've refused to put on midnight shifts. They'

Agriculture committee  No. I think the elevators have used private companies and do use them on occasion. In many ways, it's probably an alternative.

Agriculture committee  In defence of CN, I think their operating practices are being emulated in many ways by CP and many other railways, so it's not only a CN type of operation; it's a way to efficiently use their fleet. It's a new reality in North America, I think.

Agriculture committee  That's generally so, yes. It's about 95% lakers for the Wheat Board, and the opposite condition for non-boards.

Agriculture committee  Well, there's an operating philosophy. First of all, the lakers service a couple of elevators in the river that are serviceable only by Canadian lake fleet, and that's Baie-Comeau and Port-Cartier. Those two facilities don't have rail access, so the lakers are an integral part of

Agriculture committee  There are two primary companies. Fednav is the largest. It's actually a Canadian-owned company with foreign-flag vessels. Canfornav is probably the second largest, and then there's a variety of smaller foreign operators, as well.

Agriculture committee  Well, certainly the ocean rates fluctuate quite a bit compared to lake rates, so how competitive they're going to be depends on the market. But you have realize that when you ship by ocean vessel out of Thunder Bay, you're not double-handling it. It goes in the vessel to its ulti

Agriculture committee  Fednav.