Imported fertilizer crosses “Arctic Bridge”

In what’s being described as a milestone for Manitoba’s Hudson Bay port at Churchill, the Kapitan Sviridov, a Russian vessel, arrived today bearing cheaper fertilizer for Prairie farmers.

The arrival of the Murmansk Shipping Co. vessel represents the first shipment under the “Arctic Bridge” concept that’s proposed to link Russian and Canadian Prairie markets, said Lloyd Axworthy, chair of the Churchill Gateway Development Corp., in a release today.

The load of nitrogen fertilizer was imported from overseas by Farmers of North America (FNA), a Saskatoon-based group that brokers deals for lower-cost imports of farm chemicals, fertilizer and other inputs and equipment on members’ behalf.

From here, the Sviridov will take 20,000 tonnes of wheat to Italy on behalf of the Canadian Wheat Board, as part of what the CWB calls its largest wheat shipping program through the port since 1977.

The fertilizer is to be shipped from Churchill to delivery points across Western Canada, FNA said Tuesday in a release.

Churchill normally handles outbound grain for export markets and re-supply shipments for northern and Arctic communities in Canada. According to Mike Ogborn of port owner OmniTrax, the fertilizer delivery marks the first foreign cargo shipment imported through Churchill in years — in a season which has also seen record wheat and re-supply traffic, as well as its first domestic shipment: a load of Prairie wheat bound for a Nova Scotia miller.

FNA vice-president Glenn Caleval said in a release Tuesday that the delivery may lead to increased activity through the deep-water port.

Churchill’s shipping season is famously limited to July-November by ice on Hudson Bay, but the port is widely considered one of the most efficient ways to export grain out of parts of the Prairies such as northeastern Saskatchewan and northwestern Manitoba, in terms of rail mileage and turnaround time for available rail cars. The Arctic Bridge concept was proposed partly as a way to ensure the port’s future viability.

“Linking Asian and North American trade markets through Churchill is an idea whose time has come and will help generate more jobs, of course in Churchill, and hopefully other economic spin-offs for Manitoba’s north,” said provincial Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Steve Ashton in a release. Ashton is the MLA for the northern city of Thompson, a stop on OmniTrax’s Hudson Bay Railway to Churchill.

“While FNA’s action was intended to demonstrate alternatives for farmers, we are pleased that at the same time we are able to demonstrate a sound alternative for shippers,” Caleval said.

The CGDC planned a welcoming ceremony for the boat Wednesday morning.