Port of Churchill

The Port of Churchill in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada is a port on the Arctic Ocean. It was once owned by the Government of Canada but was sold to the American company OmniTRAX to run privately.

The port has four deep-sea berths capable of handling Panamax-size vessels for the loading and unloading of grain, bulk commodities, general cargo, and tanker vessels. [cite news| last = |first = |coauthors = |title =Churchill Port and Railway Owners Push to Ship Million Tonnes in 2008 | work =Marketwire | pages = | publisher =Marketwire Inc. | date =2007-11-05 | url =http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Omnitrax-Canada-788885.html | accessdate =2008-09-05 ] The port is connected to the Hudson Bay Railway, an affiliated company of OmniTRAX. Further connections are made with the Canadian National Railway system.

Port operations

The port is iced in for much of the year and is accessible only between late July and early November. Shallow waters also restrict its development as an ocean port. Despite these restrictions the port remains useful for shipping grain and other bulk cargos because shipping by rail costs several times as much, per ton, as shipping by sea.

Typically, the port is used for outgoing shipments of grain, usually from the Canadian Wheat Board. [http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/business/local/story/4059810p-4663948c.html] Since 2007 port activity has diversified and increased in line with growth in Arctic mining operations in Nunavut and an expansion in supply ship reloading.cite news| last = |first = |coauthors = |title =Churchill port makes 1st domestic grain shipment | work =CBC News Canada | pages = | publisher =CBC | date =2007-09-19 | url =http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2007/09/19/churchill-port.html | accessdate =2008-09-05 ] In September 2007 the port handled its first domestic export trade, shipping 12,500 tonnes of wheat to Halifax aboard the Arctic supply ship "Kathryn Spirit". On October 18, 2007 the port received its first import trade in seven years and the first ever from Russia, a shipment of fertilizer purchased by Farmers of North America. The shipment is supposed to be the beginning of an Arctic Bridge that would link Churchill with the Russian port of Murmansk.cite news| last =Friesen |first =Joe |coauthors = |title =Russian ship crosses 'Arctic bridge' to Manitoba | work =The Globe and Mail | pages = | publisher =CTVglobemedia Publishing | date =2007-10-18 | url =http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071018.wChurchill18/BNStory/National/home?cid=al_gam_mostemail | accessdate =2008-09-05 ]

References

External links

* [http://www.portofchurchill.ca/ Official Port of Churchill site]