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US reopens key rail crossings between Texas and Mexico

American, Mexican agriculture groups express relief

Reading Time: 2 minutes U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said operations resumed at 2 p.m. ET at the international railway crossing bridges in Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas. The closures had prompted alarm from railroads, the agriculture industry and some lawmakers over the economic impact to halted export trade.

File photo of laker vessels navigating the Welland Canal. (JonathanNicholls/iStock/Getty Images)

Seaway workers ratify labour deal

Deal ended one-week strike on waterway

Reading Time: < 1 minute Unionized workers on the St. Lawrence Seaway in Ontario and Quebec have voted their approval of the agreement that brought them in off the picket line. Unifor, which represents about 360 Seaway workers across five locals in the two provinces, announced Thursday its members had voted to ratify a three-year agreement retroactive to April 1. […] Read more


File photo of laker vessels navigating the Welland Canal. (JonathanNicholls/iStock/Getty Images)

St. Lawrence traffic to resume as tentative labour deal reached

Deal goes now to ratification vote

Reading Time: 3 minutes A week-long strike by about 360 unionized workers on the St. Lawrence Seaway ended Monday morning with a tentative agreement on a new labour deal. The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC) and Unifor, the union representing the workers, announced the new agreement separately Sunday evening. Unionized workers had been on strike since just after […] Read more

File photo of locks on the Welland Canal at Allanburg, Ont. (Jimfeng/iStock/Getty Images)

Seaway workers’ strike underway

Management awaiting CIRB ruling on grain traffic

Reading Time: 2 minutes Unionized workers on the St. Lawrence Seaway walked off the job just after midnight Sunday, shutting the waterway to all cargo vessels including grain traffic for now. Unifor, which represents about 360 Seaway workers across five locals in Ontario and Quebec, had served Seaway management with 72 hours’ strike notice on Wednesday. In a release […] Read more


File photo of locks on the Welland Canal at Allanburg, Ont. (Jimfeng/iStock/Getty Images)

Seaway to seek order exempting grain traffic from strike action

Management, union say talks still ongoing

Reading Time: 2 minutes Facing a strike that would shut down traffic on the waterway as early as Sunday, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. has asked for an order confirming that grain would need to continue moving. Unifor, the union representing over 360 seaway workers across five union locals in Ontario and Quebec, on Wednesday served the corporation […] Read more

File photo of locks on the Welland Canal at Allanburg, Ont. (Jimfeng/iStock/Getty Images)

Seaway workers serve strike notice

Waterway would be 'closed to all traffic' in event of strike

Reading Time: 2 minutes Five Unifor locals representing 361 workers with the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. (SLSMC) have served their 72 hours’ notice of a strike that could shut the waterway to grain and all other traffic just after midnight Sunday at the earliest. Unifor members represented by Locals 4211, 4212 and 4323 in Ontario and Locals 4319 […] Read more


Liberia-flagged bulker K Sukret, carrying grain under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, waits for inspection in the southern anchorage of Istanbul on May 17, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Mehmet Emin Caliskan)

Britain says Russia may target civilian shipping with mines in Black Sea

Intel suggests goal is to deter Ukraine grain exports, Britain says

Reading Time: < 1 minute London | Reuters — Russia may use sea mines to target civilian shipping in the Black Sea, including by laying them on the approach to Ukrainian ports, the British government said on Wednesday citing intelligence. Russia in July pulled out of a deal that had allowed Ukraine to safely ship food products out through what […] Read more

Vessels are seen as they await inspection under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the UN and Turkey, in the southern anchorage of the Bosphorus at Istanbul on Dec. 11, 2022. (File photo: Reuters/Yoruk Isik)

Russia’s leverage on grain to decline, senior U.S. official says

Attacks on ships may hurt pricing

Reading Time: 2 minutes New York | Reuters — Russia’s leverage over Ukraine’s export of grain via the Black Sea will likely erode in weeks to come as more ships are able to leave Ukrainian ports and rising costs could prompt Moscow to reconsider its abandonment of the grain deal, a senior U.S. State Department official said. James O’Brien, […] Read more


(PortOfThunderBay.com)

Thunder Bay grain shipments up on year

Grain traffic contributes to increase in overall cargo handle

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Grain shipments through the Port of Thunder Bay are running well ahead of the year-ago level, with 3.747 million tonnes of grain shipped through the port on the northern shores of Lake Superior as of Aug. 31. That was up by 1.1 million tonnes from the previous year’s pace, but slightly behind the […] Read more

Liberia-flagged bulker K Sukret, carrying grain under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, waits for inspection in the southern anchorage of Istanbul on May 17, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Mehmet Emin Caliskan)

UN working on guarantees for Russia to restore grain deal, Moscow skeptical

Bombing of Ukraine ports, grain facilities erodes other partners' goodwill, Guterres says

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — The United Nations is “actively engaged” in trying to improve Russia’s grain and fertilizer exports in a bid to convince Moscow to again allow the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday. “We believe that it’s necessary to create a system of mutual guarantee,” Guterres told reporters on […] Read more