Future undecided for grain elevator as Port of Halifax expands
Global News
The future of the grain elevator at the Port of Halifax remains murky as the port continues with an ambitious expansion aimed at growing its cargo and cruise ship businesses.
The future of the grain elevator at the Port of Halifax remains murky as the port continues with an ambitious expansion aimed at growing its cargo and cruise ship businesses.
Kim Batherson, general manager of Halifax Grain Elevator Limited, said her large storage facility that’s been in operation since 1924 risks losing its export pier berth to make way for an enlarged shipping container platform.
Batherson said her company’s lease expires at the end of 2026, and customers need answers soon on whether they can continue to store and ship commodities such as soybeans, milling grain and wood pellets through the only facility of its kind in the Maritimes.
“I do feel like they (the port) are looking at solutions,” she said in an interview late last month. “I do hope that we can come up with something that enables them to continue their expansion of the container pier, but still allows us to do what we do here.”
The grain elevator has 365 silos that can store up to 140,000 tonnes of grain at a time, Batherson said, adding that last year it handled 500,000 tonnes worth of business. “If the port takes away our ability to export they would be taking away 60 per cent of our business,” she said. “We are not going to be a viable business anymore.”
The port’s 50-year plan, released in 2022, includes filling in the elevator’s export docking berth where ships are loaded, to allow for the expansion of the port’s cargo business.
In a recent statement to The Canadian Press, the port authority said it’s seeking a solution that “supports ongoing operations at the grain elevator and continued port expansion plans.”
It said that it has been meeting with provincial and federal representatives as well as with those in the agricultural and forestry sectors and Halifax Grain Elevator Limited. The port authority added that discussions were ongoing and “no decisions have been made.”
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