THUNDER BAY – It’s been a busy year so far at the Thunder Bay Port Authority.
Cargo totals released on Wednesday show the port handled 128,569 metric tonnes more goods in April 2017 as compared to April 2016, an 18.2 per cent increase.
To date this year the port has handled 26 per cent more cargo than the 10-year average.
Port Authority CEO Tim Heney said it’s a great way to kick off the shipping season.
“Year to date, we’re significantly ahead of where we were. It was a bit of an earlier start, of course, this year,” Heney said.
“We’ve seen quite a variety of things. Of course grain is still strong, at 863,000 tonnes so far this year, But coal is ahead of last year and so is potash and dry bulk. Almost all the commodities are running above where we were last year.
Heney did caution not to read too much into the latest statistics.
“It’s early in the year,” he said.
“The majority of the cargo in port is grain and it’s always hard to predict the second half of the season because it’s based on harvest and things like that. But things are drying up on the prairies now and it’s starting to look normal again.”
