ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER INDUSTRY NEWS 20 “Farmers often need to harvest and move grains quickly to capitalize on weather windows and to protect quality,” Dickerson says. “Investments into better functioning trucking kiosks and faster unloads help make that possible. And being on the border, and being a global company, helps maintain those state-to-province and city-to-city relationships.” SALTIES AND LAKERS In port, crush products and raw commodities are loaded onto two kinds of ships. “Salties,” a popular term for saltwater oceangoing vessels, are characterized by narrower hulls and higher drafts (the measurement from the waterline to the bottom of a ship’s hull). This design improves the ease with which they can slice through the large rolling waves of the open ocean. “Lakers,” conversely, sit higher in the water. Lakers are employed throughout the Great Lakes system, including the St. Lawrence River, but never enter the Atlantic Ocean. Lakers loaded with commodities designed for overseas customers offload cargo at ports further east. ADM Windsor generally loads 10,000 to 22,000 metric tons of cargo on vessels, even in cases where ships are capable of transporting significantly more cargo. That’s not uncommon for salties; while sailing inland, these vessels must be under the displacement restrictions at the locks further east. They can top up their cargos when they reach terminals such as Quebec City, before making the voyage across the ocean. Working with smaller salties has advantages for ADM Windsor, says Kyle Schroeder, ADM commodity trader at the company’s Windsor facility. “With soybean meal, for example, we deal with a lot of smaller ports in the UK that are draft restricted,” he says. “We can work with smaller vessels more efficiently.” COMPLICATED LOGISTICS The number of vessels docking at ADM Windsor varies year to year depending on factors such as how much product from western Canada is brought in, as well as overall export level. Vessels are constantly arriving in port; canola from Thunder Bay alone arrives about every 10 days, in line with the crush capacity. Planning for the arrival of so many ships is inherently complex, particularly as their arrival is compressed into the ice-free months between March and December. Inclement weather can significantly impact departure and arrival times year-round. Schroeder says vessels otherwise ready to sail can be stuck just off their loading dock for days waiting for the weather to subside, while the lock systems further east can themselves shut down when Mother Nature is particularly uncooperative. This all but halts ship traffic in the Great Lakes. Because of this contingency, vessel crews also do not have to declare their expected arrival time until 10 days before. “From a terminal’s perspective, vessels are an everlasting moving target. We can have a plan, and two weeks from now have to change it because we have three different vessels showing up in a week, and they’re changing (estimated time of arrival) based on weather, or where they’re loading and offloading. We really don’t know what the plan is until sometimes a day out,” Schroeder says. Loading and unloading vessels is also a complex process. A vessel’s captain issues the terminal a load plan, detailing how the commodity should be brought onboard to maintain ballast and fit the design of the ship. ADM Windsor is generally able to load 600 metric tons of commodity in an hour. Total loading times vary considerably, however. Maxim Charbonneau, ADM Windsor’s commercial manager, says load time depends on the vessel size, the number of holds, and if workers are loading or offloading different products. Two to three days per vessel is typical as a range, though smaller barges can take as little as 16 hours. Larger vessels may take three to four days. Load times also vary depending on the product. Due to risks to product quality, loading is not carried out during rainy conditions, unless purchasers issue a “rain letter” stating they assume the risks of doing so. While the terminal operator is not held accountable for any weather-related delays, continued from page 19 Schroeder says taking too long to load or unload a vessel in good environmental conditions can incur significant financial penalties – $10,000 per day to $55,000 per day, depending on the vessel. “If we have three vessels showing up in a week and they’re overlapping each other, we have to run the calculation of how long one’s going to take, which one charges more [for delays], and which one do we want to sit,” Schroeder says. PILOTS ARE PIVOTAL The logistics of loading and unloading is challenged further by the requirement for ships to employ pilots – local experts who board vessels to help the crew navigate local watercourses. “These crews may be Sri Lanken, Indian, Russian, or some other nationality. Anyone that comes in, they’re not technically allowed to drive their vessels by themselves anywhere within the Great Lakes lock system. So anywhere from Montreal to down here, they must have that pilot to drive the vessel for them because their expertise is in the Lakes,” says Schroeder. To get a pilot onboard, a small boat pulls up beside the vessel while it’s moving, so the pilot can climb up a ladder. A vessel coming from Montreal destined for Thunder Bay may have to change pilots up to nine times. In the Detroit River, the removal of navigational buoys over winter necessitates two pilots be onboard, further complicating logistics for operators at ADM Windsor. “There are even times where a vessel shows up and it must wait because we already have one on dock. It might have to wait a day. It’s just sitting there out in the river,” Schroeder says. “As far as bringing it from there into our dock, you need to arrange a pilot to make a move that lasts half an hour. We need to line those up 12 hours in advance. Half the time it’s a guessing game. It makes it very complicated.” Yet despite the significant challenges and changes facing commodity trading, southwestern Ontario continues to be supported by an effective marine shipping system. ADM Windsor contributes to the system’s strength. •
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