Thunder Bay’s Mission Terminal grain elevator has picked up provincial funding toward a project to boost its handling capacity.
Mission Terminal, which bills itself as Canada’s largest administrator of Prairie farmer-loaded producer cars, will get $1 million from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. through its Enterprises North Job Creation program.
The expansion involves construction of three new storage bins and is expected to create up to six new jobs as a result of “additional volumes,” terminal manager Paul Kennedy said in the province’s release Friday.
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“As well, additional volumes have allowed us to invest in increasing railroad trackage onsite and we are currently developing a new facility to accommodate the Canadian Grain Commission,” he said.
Thunder Bay area MPP Bill Mauro described the terminal as “a tremendous asset to our area, and this expansion will help provide good jobs for our residents.”
The terminal, sited at the mouth of the Mission River and feeding into the Great Lakes system, currently employs about 50 people and has a capacity of 120,000 tonnes.
Mission Terminal sources and markets Prairie wheat and barley as well as canola, barley, rye, flax, peas and oats through its handling facilities in Western Canada and at Thunder Bay.
Mission, which in August marked 10 years in operation, is an operating company within Soumat, a Winnipeg-based grain handling and trading operation that wholly and partly owns a number of primary elevators and producer car loading sites, shortline railways, grain terminals, transfer elevators and bulk storage sites.
Soumat in turn is part of the Upper Lakes Group, a privately-held Toronto firm dealing in shipping, marine and industrial services, grain trading, port facility services and real estate development.
