“Another 13 vessels were diverted this week taking the total cargo diverted away from the Red Sea route to around 5.2 million metric tons of grains in about 90 ships since the attacks started late last year,” said Ishan Bhanu, lead agricultural commodities analyst at data provider and analyst Kpler.

About 7 million tons per month of grain cargoes usually transit the Suez Canal into the Red Sea, but bulk and other shipping has dropped significantly as Iran-backed Houthi militants have continued attacks on shipping despite U.S.-led air strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen.

“U.S. and European cargoes continue to avoid the Red Sea,” Bhanu said. “Not a single vessel in the Atlantic carrying grain to Asia is heading towards the Suez Canal.”

The Atlantic shipments would include large U.S. grain exports to Asia.

“Almost all cargo originating in the Black Sea, mainly exports out of Russia and Romania, continues to travel through Suez and the Red Sea,” Bhanu said. “Only three such vessels diverted to take the longer route among dozens sailing.”

Vessels in the Red Sea broadcast messages on the automatic identification system (AIS) to seek safe passage to show they are not involved in the Middle East conflict, including ships under Chinese ownership, he said.

Commodity traders said it was still possible to find bulk carriers for Red Sea grain shipments.

“There are shipowners willing to take the risk,” a German grain trader said. “But it is clear the air strikes and naval forces are not enough to end the attacks on ships in the immediate future.”

–Reporting for Reuters by Michael Hogan.

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Of the total, grain movement was up by five per cent on the year, hitting 10.4 million tonnes, with Canadian grain up by more than 11 per cent.

“Again in 2023, the St. Lawrence Seaway demonstrated its resilience and reliability, as well as emphasizing its role as an essential component of the Green Shipping Corridor,” said Terence Bowles, President and CEO of the SLSMC.

“Marine commerce on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway plays a key role in supporting 246,000 jobs and US$36 billion in economic development activities across North America,” added Adam Tindall-Schlicht, GLS Administrator.

Dry bulk movement of agricultural supplies and construction materials topped 12 million tonnes, which was up by five per cent on the year. Liquid bulk traffic was up by 3.4 per cent at 3.6 million tonnes.

After the longest scheduled shipping season in history, the Montreal/Lake Ontario section of the seaway closed for the season on Jan. 5 with the Welland Canal closing on Jan. 7. Annual winter maintenance and infrastructure renewal programs are currently underway.

Looking ahead to 2024, the SLMC and GLS will focus on further developing the Green Shipping Corridor to leverage the environmental and economic benefits of marine shipping to regional and global communities.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin is an associate editor/analyst with MarketsFarm in Winnipeg.

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That was up by 1.1 million tonnes from the previous year’s pace, but slightly behind the five-year average, according to an update from the port authority. Grain movement in August came in at 608,406 tonnes, which compares with 502,502 tonnes in August 2022.

Potash and general cargo shipments were also described as strong, although year-to-date levels for both at 775,014 tonnes and 20,966 tonnes respectively were down slightly from 2022.

Total cargo movement at the Port of Thunder Bay through Aug. 31, at 4.934 million tonnes, was up from 3.964 million tonnes the previous year due to the increase in grain movement.

The Keefer Terminal also had steady inbound vessel traffic during August and the first week of September, with shipments of bulk fertilizer, steel pipe, steel rail and machinery. The terminal is experiencing its best year to date for steel, with regular shipments continuing through the fall, the report said.

Total vessel traffic in the Port of Thunder Bay increased by 50 vessels as of Aug. 31, year-over-year.

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The bipartisan bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives on a 369-42 vote earlier this week. Biden said he had “promised to crack down on ocean carriers whose price hikes have hurt American families.”

The new law boosts the investigatory authority of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), the U.S. agency that oversees ocean shipping, and increases transparency of industry practices.

“It’s going to help to begin to lower shipping costs,” Biden said.

The law will allow the FMC to launch probes of the business practices of ocean common carriers, a term that broadly refers to cargo vessels operating on the high seas.

It will also be able to apply enforcement measures and require the vessels to report to the FMC “total import/export tonnage” each calendar quarter. The law would bar ocean carriers from unreasonably declining opportunities for U.S. exports under new rules to be determined by the FMC.

The World Shipping Council said it will work with the FMC to implement the bill “in a way that will minimize disruption in our supply chain.”

However, it added: “Ocean carriers continue to move record volumes of cargo and have invested heavily in new capacity — America needs to make the same commitment and invest in its landside logistics infrastructure.”

The White House said the law will “make progress reducing costs for families and ensuring fair treatment for American businesses, including farmers and ranchers.”

Congress has few tools to combat inflation, which hit 8.6 per cent in the 12 months through May, according to the U.S. consumer price index. Beyond the shipping bill, Democrats are also pushing measures to lower prescription drug prices.

Imports in the nation’s major retail container ports are expected to reach near-record volume in June as retailers seek to meet consumer demand and protect themselves from disruptions in West Coast ports, the National Retail Federation said in a statement last week.

— David Shepardson reports on U.S. transportation policy for Reuters from Washington, D.C.

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While no valuation was given in the announcement, the deal values Ports America at over US$4 billion, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The transaction comes amid heightened interest in logistics, with supply-chain disruption in focus as the global economy recovers from the paralysis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“There are lots of tailwinds for logistics assets writ large, but our approach is for the long term and so this type of strategic ports asset will be important to the U.S. for decades to come,” Scott Lawrence, head of infrastructure at CPPIB, said in an interview.

Under the terms of the deal, which is expected to close by the end of the year, the Canadian pension manager will take full ownership of Ports America.

CPPIB had previously held a 9.4 per cent stake in Ports America. The pension fund also owns a 34 per cent stake in Associated British Ports, as well as stakes in toll roads, utilities and digital infrastructure providers in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia, according to its website.

Alternative asset manager Oaktree has controlled Ports America since 2014, when it acquired Highstar Capital and the infrastructure-focused investor’s funds, which included the Jersey City, N.J.-based ports operator.

“Ports America’s growth, track record of innovation and strong financial profile have positioned the company for success in today’s cargo management and terminal operations environment, and we fully expect the business will only benefit from this new ownership structure,” said Emmett McCann, managing director and co-portfolio manager of Oaktree’s Infrastructure Investing strategy.

Founded a century ago, Ports America has operations in 70 locations across 33 ports in the United States. It currently handles 13.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) annually, which includes 10 million tons of cargo, 2.5 million vehicles and 1.7 million cruise ship passengers.

In the bulk/breakbulk sector — which handles commodities including grains, vegetable oils, raw sugar and refrigerated products, among other non-food cargoes — Ports America operates facilities at 24 U.S. ports.

In the containerized cargo sector, which includes pulses and specialty crops among other goods, Ports America provides services at 28 terminals across 18 U.S. ports, which it said gives it about a one-third share of the container market in the country.

— Reporting for Reuters by Sohini Podder in Bangalore and David French in New York. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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For decades, cargo ships have paid tolls directly to the private dredging company in charge of keeping the river open.

Industry executives worry that government intervention in the waterway will heap bureaucracy and extra costs on the grains export sector, which is the main source of hard currency needed to refresh central bank dollar reserves strained by a three-year recession exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Grains powerhouse Argentina is the world’s No. 3 corn exporter and top supplier of soymeal livestock feed, used to fatten hogs and poultry from Europe to Southeast Asia.

The National Ports Administration has been given authority over the next 11 months to subcontract management of the waterway, while the transportation ministry evaluates bids from dredging companies for the long-term concession to follow.

“The strengthening of policies on the management of inland waterways is a priority objective of the national executive,” the government said in a decree published on Wednesday.

The tolls paid by ships for dredging services performed by the company that wins the upcoming Parana contract will be received by the newly established agency, the decree said.

“This decree looks like the government does not only want to set up conditions for the tender and the dredging tariff. It looks like an excess of bureaucracy that might mean additional costs for export operations on the river,” said Gustavo Idigoras, head of the CIARA-CEC export companies’ chamber.

“We welcome the idea of having a control agency, but we are concerned about additional bureaucracy and costs. So we need to have close conversations with the government,” Idigoras said.

A transportation ministry source, who asked not to be named, said the new dredging oversight board could actually make it less expensive to ship grains from Argentina.

“The price of tolls paid by cargo ships to the dredging company is something that will be determined in the bidding process. The tolls could end up going down,” said the source. “One of our objectives is to lower logistics costs.”

This is the latest chapter in a long saga of farmers and exporters opposing government intervention in the sector.

The dredging of the Parana gives Argentina an edge over rival exporters Brazil and the U.S., which rely more on less efficient trucks and slow-moving barges.

The new agency has inflamed exporters and farmers already worried about the policies of centre-left President Alberto Fernandez, a Peronist whose administration has curtailed beef exports as a way of controlling domestic food price inflation.

The industry is fretting that if the flow of toll money goes through the state, it would dilute and increase dredging costs.

The river at Rosario is dredged to about a depth of 10 metres, and industry leaders want the next long-term contract to provide for a deeper, wider shipping channel.

— Reporting for Reuters by Hugh Bronstein and Maximilian Heath.

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The tug-barge combo discharged a calcium chloride brine solution, used as a stabilizer and dust suppressant. The same combo also opened the season 2020, one year ago to the day.

Two bulker vessels arrived early Saturday morning for grain cargoes, and six more were anticipated over the weekend as grain loading operations in the port hit the ground running.

Two wintering vessels carrying bulk grain departed the northwestern Ontario port ahead of the official opening: MV Blair McKeil of the McKeil fleet, and MV Algoma Strongfield of the Algoma Central fleet.

Thunder Bay, on the northern shores of Lake Superior, had its busiest year in over two decades in 2020, with annual cargo volumes topping 10 million tonnes for the first time since 1997.

Of the 10.2 million tonnes of total cargo shipped in 2020, grain accounted for 9.2 million tonnes, up from 7.9 million in 2019.

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Annual cargo volumes through came in at 10.2 million tonnes, which marked the first time the tonnage topped 10 million since 1997. A total of 9.3 million tonnes of cargo were reported in 2019.

“Much of the success in 2020 is attributable to the port’s strategic position as Western Canada’s gateway to Eastern markets for grain,” the port authority said in a release.

Grain accounted for 9.2 million tonnes of the total movement through the port, up from 7.9 million the previous year.

Overseas grain demand saw over 150 foreign ‘saltie’ vessels load grain at Thunder Bay in the season, marking the second-highest tally at the port since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959.

Several factors contributed to the grain surge, including significant carryover of grain stock from the large 2019 harvest and worldwide stockpiling of staple foods during the pandemic.

Late-season developments have port officials optimistic for further growth and diversification in 2021. The first import shipment of phosphate fertilizer was handled at Keefer Terminal in early December. The fertilizer is being stored inside and railed to Prairie farms.

Given the success of the arrangement, forwarders are planning to send further shipments in the spring.

“This cargo represents an opportunity to increase inbound shipments in Thunder Bay, capitalizing on the large volume of outbound shipments and available capacity, improving the bottom line for shippers,” CEO Tim Heney said in Tuesday’s release.

“We have invested heavily in infrastructure and marketed a two-way route that adds value for businesses shipping to and from the West. This cargo fits the model and affirms our strategy.”

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Increased demand for Canadian grain in Europe, the Middle East and Africa has led the port to a 20-year high for cargo tonnage, the port said in a release.

The total of 1.033 million tonnes of grain moved through Thunder Bay in November was up by about 100,000 tonnes compared to the same month the previous year. Year-to-date grain exports of 7.951 million tonnes are up 21 per cent on the year.

Total cargo movement, which includes coal, potash and other bulk goods, came in at 8.751 million tonnes through November. That’s up 11 per cent on the year, with the increases in grain movement countered somewhat by declines in coal and potash.

Thunder Bay was visited by 32 domestic lakers, one U.S. laker, and 20 foreign saltie vessels in November. Lakers ship to ports within the Great Lakes-Seaway System, while salties carry cargo directly overseas. Most laker-shipped grain is transloaded in the St. Lawrence River to salties for export.

With a strong December vessel lineup, the port projects final overall cargo volumes of 10 million tonnes for the first time since 1997. That tally would represent a 14 per cent increase over the port’s five-year average.

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“Strong shipments of Prairie-grown grain and other dry bulk commodities from Western Canada buoyed the port’s cargo tonnage to 9.3 million metric tonnes, the highest since 2014,” the port said in a news release.

Of that total, grain movement accounted for 7.9 million tonnes,up by about 500,000 from the previous year. Increased movement of canola to Europe and South America was cited as a factor in the solid grain exports.

Coal tonnage was also up on the year, hitting just under 780,000 tonnes. Potash shipments were down slightly on the year, but still remained above the average at nearly 400,000 tonnes.

The Port of Thunder Bay projects another strong season in 2020, according to the report.

In addition to grain movement, the facility also expects to see an increase of wind turbine cargoes destined for western Canadian developments.

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