THUNDER BAY - More goods will be flowing in and out of the Thunder Bay Port Authority in the near future, as the federal government invests more than $7 million into infrastructure upgrades at Keefer Terminal.
The announcement was made on Tuesday by Transportation Minister Marc Garneau at the Thunder Bay Port Authority office, along with local representatives Don Rusnak and Patty Hajdu.
“The port of Thunder Bay is an important economic driver for the region,” Garneau said. “It’s an important port for moving goods either east or west.”
The government is contributing $7.5 million to a project that will see the addition of new tracks and laydown areas for cargo staging and the construction of a 4,645 square-metre heated multi-purpose warehouse facility.
Thunder Bay Port Authority CEO, Tim Heney, said the funding from the government will cover half of the $15 million multi-stage project that has been ongoing for the last 12 years. An additional $1 million is coming from Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation and the remainder is covered by the port authority.
“This will allow us to increase volumes, particularly in structural steel handling,” Heney said. “We’ve become quite successful in rail and steel imports from Europe headed to western Canada. The numbers are growing. Our warehouses are currently at capacity, so building more capacity for shipments is really what it is going to do for us.”
The funding is part of the federal government’s $2-billion National Trade Corridor Fund, which will be assisting transportation projects across the country for the next 11 years.
“The movement of goods across the country, whether it’s coming to Thunder Bay or leaving Thunder Bay or any other port in the country or along our railway lines, how effectively we do that is counted almost down to the hour,” Garneau said.
“Our objective at Transportation Canada and the government of Canada is to be able to have a transportation system that delivers always on time and in the most efficient way possible. So this is a good investment for Thunder Bay and transportation in general.”
Garneau added funding decisions are based on the merit of the project and what set Thunder Bay apart was the quality of the submission and that it was being co-funded.
While Thunder Bay is largely an export port, Heney said with increased capacity and less bottlenecks, there is the option to grow the number of products being shipped out of and into the port.
“We’ve been trying to diversify cargo to inbound. Bringing more ships to Thunder Bay means there are more ships to bring grain back to Europe,” he said. “We always have that backhaul ready.”
It all comes down to creating efficiencies and perhaps even allowing for more trade options with European and Asian partners given trade tensions with Canada’s largest trading partner, the United States.
“Our whole objective, because we are a trading nation, is to do it as efficiently as possible,” Garneau said. “It’s not easy to move things across this country. The way to do it most efficiently is to put some money into it.”
