THUNDER BAY – Officials with the Port of Thunder Bay are concerned about the ongoing disruption with railways across Canada.
Chris Heikkinen, CEO of the Port of Thunder Bay, said he is worried about the uncertainty “in terms of where or how some kind of resolution might look and when that might happen."
Heikkinen said the majority of operations at the Port have ceased as a result of the labour disruption.
“There are a couple of vessels that continue to be loaded just given the fact that their cargo and their rail cars had actually arrived in Thunder Bay ahead of the disruption.
“When those two ships have been loaded up, virtually all the port operations will cease. As far as we can tell at the moment there's very little rail activity going on,” he said.
The federal government is attempting to introduce binding arbitration that would force railway workers back to work, but the union representing them vows to fight back, issuing a 72-hour strike notice.
Heikkinen said the work stoppage has come at a really important time of the shipping season, especially as it relates to grain.
“The harvest will be coming off the fields and the prairies in relatively short order. This is when shipments typically start to really pick up in the Port of Thunder Bay.
“If we're not going to be receiving cargo, then we’re not going to see ship loading taking place. It has a broader impact than that. You're going to see farmers potentially not being able to find storage for their product that would normally be shipping to market.
“On a global scale it lends itself to more food insecurity issues around the world if you can't get Canadian grain to market in good time,” Heikkinen said.
Any time lost at the Port of Thunder Bay is completely lost, he said.
“We have a finite shipping season. Our Laker vessels are for the most part booked capacity for the season.
“If you lose one trip on a vessel, you don't have the time to make that up again before the season ends. So, anything lost is really lost for good here at the Port of Thunder Bay,” he said.
