Hapag-Lloyd containers at a shipping terminal in Hamburg in March 2017. (File photo: Reuters/Fabian Bimmer)

Pulse industry watching container supply closely

One major container firm is shipping them back to Asia empty to meet a surge in demand

Reading Time: 2 minutes Pulse Canada is keeping an eye on container supplies following the recent announcement by a major supplier it would be shipping them back empty to Asia from North America to meet a surge in demand. Why it matters: Canadian pulse crop exporters rely on shipping containers to get their products to international customers. A lack […] Read more

File photo of cranes at the Port of Montreal. (Jean-Paul_Lejeune/iStock/Getty Images)

Truce reached in Montreal port strike

Longshoremen to return to work Sunday

Reading Time: 2 minutes Striking longshoremen at the Port of Montreal plan to return to work Sunday morning, beginning a truce of up to seven months brokered by federal mediators. Federal Labour Minister Filomena Tassi announced Friday that the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 375, Syndicat des debardeurs and the port’s Maritime Employers Association (MEA) have “concluded […] Read more


(Canest-transit.ca)

Containerized crops may get stuck in Montreal port’s strike

Longshoremen on 'indefinite' strike as of Monday morning

Reading Time: 3 minutes Bulk grain traffic through the Port of Montreal isn’t expected to be affected by a longshoremen’s strike that began Monday morning, but eastbound containerized crops may be among the traffic put on hold. CUPE’s Syndicat des debardeurs Local 375, which represents about 1,150 longshoremen and longshorewomen at the port, served notice Friday that it would […] Read more

An image created by Nexu Science Communication, together with Trinity College in Dublin, shows a model structurally representative of a betacoronavirus, the type of virus linked to COVID-19. (Nexu Science Communication via Reuters)

Food exporters sign safety declarations in lieu of virus-free guarantees

Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — U.S. food and feed exporters are shipping goods to China with letters assuring the safety of their cargo in lieu of official declarations requested by Chinese authorities that guarantee coronavirus-free shipments, a U.S. agricultural export group said on Friday. The commitment statements, drafted by the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC), are meant only to […] Read more


A container terminal in Halifax. (CN.ca)

CN sees eastern network revival on supply chain diversity, ports

Reading Time: 2 minutes Montreal | Reuters — Canadian National Railway, the country’s biggest railroad, is banking on growth in consumer products and supply-chain diversification in Asia, to revive traffic on its underutilized eastern Canadian rail lines, the company’s CEO told Reuters Friday. Coronavirus, which hit China’s industrial production, along with U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, are further leading […] Read more

A container terminal at the Port of Vancouver. (FangXiaNuo/E+/Canada)

Logistics, lack of containers hamper pulse crop movement

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Logistics disruptions due to COVID-19 are hampering nearby movement of pulses, according to a number of industry participants speaking Thursday on a webinar organized by the Global Pulse Consortium. However, the longer-term impact of the pandemic remains to be seen. “The shipping industry has been hugely impacted by COVID-19,” Chris Oliver, nautical director […] Read more


Prince Rupert’s Ridley Island is the planned site for Ray-Mont Logistics’ crop container loading facility. (CNW Group/Prince Rupert Port Authority)

Prince Rupert expansion to handle crop containers

Reading Time: < 1 minute A Montreal logistics firm specializing in loading pulses and grains into containers for export out of Vancouver and Montreal plans to set up shop at Prince Rupert. The Prince Rupert Port Authority on Monday announced Ray-Mont Logistics is developing a logistics and container loading facility at the south end of the West Coast port’s Ridley […] Read more

(Hanjin.com)

Pulses stranded at sea as shipping company flounders

Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — The bankruptcy of a major Korean shipping company has raised some concerns for Canadian pulse crops moving by container, but any disruptions to movement will likely be minor, according to an industry analyst. Hanjin Shipping Co., the world’s seventh-largest container shipping company, declared bankruptcy on Aug. 31, leaving more than half of […] Read more