EASTERN ONTARIO: Strong year, grain volumes up, at Port of Johnstown

EDWARDSBURGH — The Port of Johnstown, the largest grain storage facility in Eastern Ontario, had another strong year. The port’s overall grain shipment volume was up by 90,000 metric tonnes over 2019, and close to the peak year of 2018.

Soybeans continued to dominate grain shipments at the port, which is owned by Edwardsburgh/Cardinal Township. Soybeans make up 52.7 per cent of the grain handled there. Last year the port took in 196,536 metric tonnes of soybeans and 132,356 metric tonnes of corn.

But soybeans did face challenges. Leading up to harvest, low soybean prices meant farmers weren’t in a hurry to sell crop. Brokers then, in turn, had nothing to sell and so weren’t booking vessels. Then prices started to rise and crop was getting booked faster than ships could be booked. Ships started rolling into port about a month later than usual, the port noted in its year-end summary.

And as usual, harvest time means all kinds of complications. The port noted that for a five-day stretch, they were running 24 hours a day due to a mechanical issue at one of the facilities.