Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — The last vessel of the shipping season will depart the Port of Thunder Bay on Friday. Grain handling volumes were down on the year, but increases in other categories helped limit the overall reduction in movement through the northern Lake Superior port. The 2021 navigation season will come to a close with the […] Read more
Thunder Bay shipping season wraps up
Baltic Dry Index drops to three-month lows
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm – Ocean freight rates have dropped significantly over the past month, with declining demand out of China behind much of the weakness. The Baltic Dry Index (BDI), which is a major indicator of shipping rates, settled at 3,187 points on Nov. 2, marking its lowest level in three months and well off the 13-year […] Read more
‘Containergeddon’ drives sugar, rice shippers back to bulk vessels
Reading Time: 2 minutes New York | Reuters — Food traders are switching from containers back to dry bulk vessels to transport refined sugar and rice, hoping to avoid shipping delays caused by container shortages and port congestion the industry is calling “containergeddon,” according to traders. Container-based transportation has been hit by sky-high costs and delays amid booming shipping […] Read more
CFA’s Hay West program up and running
Program website now online
Reading Time: 2 minutes A revival of the “Hay West” initiative, aimed at shipping feed from Eastern Canada to supplement drought-dented supplies in the West, has gone live. The Canadian Federation of Agriculture on Friday announced its Hay West 2021 initiative is “now operational and seeking applicants to both receive and supply hay.” Applicants interested in either supplying or […] Read more
Argentina agrees short-term contract with river dredger
Reading Time: < 1 minute Buenos Aires | Reuters — Argentina’s government has agreed a short-term deal with Belgian firm Jan de Nul to dredge the Parana River, a government source said Friday, a move that should ease industry concerns in the near-term over navigability of the critical grains waterway. Exporters had grown worried about a lack of clarity over […] Read more
Argentina forms agency to manage cargo river, grain exporters worry
Added bureaucracy in grain shipping feared
Reading Time: 2 minutes Buenos Aires | Reuters — Argentina said on Wednesday it had formed a new government agency to manage dredging operations needed to ensure navigation of the Parana River, which carries about 80 per cent of the country’s grains exports from the Pampas farm belt out to sea. For decades, cargo ships have paid tolls directly […] Read more
Maersk signs first green methanol deal toward dropping fossil fuels
Reading Time: 2 minutes Copenhagen | Reuters — A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Wednesday it had signed a contract securing green methanol as the world’s largest shipping firm gears up to operate its first carbon-neutral ship in 2023. With about 90 per cent of world trade transported by sea, global shipping accounts for nearly three per cent of the world’s […] Read more
Ocean freight rates at decade highs
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Ocean freight rates have climbed steadily higher over the past year, recovering from the lows hit at the start of the pandemic in early 2020 to see their highest levels in over a decade. The Baltic Dry Index (BDI), a major indicator of shipping rates, hit a high of 3,266 points on Wednesday. […] Read more
Baltic Dry Index tops 2,000 points
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Ocean freight rates have moved steadily higher over the past month, nearing some of their highest levels of the past year. The Baltic Dry Index (BDI), a major indicator of shipping rates, has moved higher most of the past month, settling above 2,000 points for the first time in five months on Tuesday, […] Read more
Push on to prevent strike at Port of Montreal
A work stoppage that could start March 20 would disrupt containerized grain exports
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ottawa needs to act now to prevent a strike March 20 that would stop containerized grain from being exported from the Port of Montreal, says Jeff English, vice-president of marketing and communications at Pulse Canada. “This is something we can see off in the distance, but we are going to be there before you know […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
