Port of Halifax growth plan could impact Grain Elevator

Growth plans for the Port of Halifax could reroute exports of some products through Montreal.

The Halifax Grain Elevator has been a fixture on the waterfront since 1924.

“We load soybeans and we load wood pellets,” says general manager Kim Batherson.

Over the years, cargo expansion has encroached on the berths where bulk carriers dock to be filled.

Future growth is now the works. The Port of Halifax’s 50 Year Plan proposes to fill in the berth that accepts exports. That means international shipments of the 35,000 metric tonnes of soybeans and the 120,000 metric tonnes of wood pellets would end.

“My lease expires at the end of 2026 and that is when they plan to start infilling the berth where we load our vessels,” Batherson says.

The shipments are well into the millions of dollars and if they close it will affect exports coming from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

“It’s the convenience, Halifax is only an hour away,” says farmer Bill Biggs.

He ships 2,000-to-3,000 tonnes annually. Some stays in the province but 90 per cent goes through the Port of Halifax. That convenience has spurred growth in soybean exports across Nova Scotia.

In the last 10 years there has been a significant increase in acreage, especially in the Halifax area due to the Grain Elevator.

It’s the same with wood pellets heading to Europe.

“In order to manage for us properly, you need a place to send your lowest of low-grade wood so that you can leave your highest quality trees for biodiversity and high value for products. We need a market for low-grade wood, we have very few markets right now and that Halifax grain facility is one way we can export wood pellets to Europe,” says Todd Burgess, executive director of Forests Nova Scotia.

Burgess hopes to meet with the port and all stakeholders to discuss plans.

“There’s options and hopefully we can get the parties together and we can get to work out an arrangement to at least get us through the next say, four years,” he says.

“These are markets that we’re trying to tap into now with everything that’s going on in the States and it’s going to be a shame to cut that off or to put a roadblock up against that,” says Batherson.

“Should future infilling at Ocean Terminals continue beyond the current basin, we would be looking for potential alternatives for the export arm,” a Port of Halifax spokesperson says in a statement.

The Halifax Grain Elevator is the only one in Atlantic Canada. Without it, shipments would have to be sent to Montreal before being exported to the world.

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