Grain exports stalled by strike at St. Lawrence Seaway

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This article was published 27/10/2023 (770 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba farmers are bracing for repercussions from a strike at an important eastern trading port.

Around 360 unionized St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. workers began striking Sunday, calling for better pay.

The strike has shut down shipping on the St. Lawrence Seaway, interrupting a major export period for Manitoba grain, among other commodities.

The Seaway connects the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. From there, Canadian goods travel to customers in the United States, Europe and Africa.

“(This) will have a ripple effect,” said Gunter Jochum, a St. Francois Xavier grain farmer and president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association.

The halting of ships leads to backlogs: a day’s disruption could take a week’s recovery, Jochum said.

He expects just a portion of Canadian grain has left the seaway so far this year.

In 2021, Manitoba shipped 4.7 million tonnes of wheat, canola and soybeans to Thunder Bay, Ont. From there, the goods left the city’s port and were transported to the St. Lawrence Seaway, according to a Port of Thunder Bay annual report.

“The duration of the disruption is going to be very important,” said Leif Carlson, Cereals Canada’s director of market intelligence and trade policy.

The national non-profit released an economic impact study Thursday. Manitoba’s cereal crop sector had an average economic impact of $6.2 billion annually between 2019 and 2021. Data analytics company GlobalData produced the report.

Manitoba’s cereal crop industry involves 27,022 full-time jobs and has a wage impact of $2.4 billion.

“When that grain isn’t moving, that means it impacts farmers’ ability to deliver against their contracts,” Carlson noted.

Manitoba grains also ship south to the United States, and west through B.C. ports — a trade route that grappled with its own strikes in July.

“The marketplace does not like uncertainty and disruptions,” said Jochum. “We may be saddled with a reputation as an unreliable trading partner.”

He fears international customers will look to other countries such as the United States and Australia to meet their grain needs.

The 3,700-kilometre St. Lawrence Seaway also sees shipments of steel products, corn and salt, among other goods.

“Let’s keep our fingers crossed that (the strike) ends quickly because it does have a larger impact on the rest of the economy, especially in eastern Canada,” noted Barry Prentice, a University of Manitoba supply chain management professor.

Ontario and Quebec farms are in the midst of corn and soybean harvesting, Jochum stated, adding Manitoba’s harvest season is nearly wrapped up.

Premiers for Ontario and Quebec have called on both sides of the strike to reach a deal immediately, citing significant harm to the region’s economy if labour action continues.

The strike has shut down 13 locks between Lake Erie and Montreal. It’s stalling ships and preventing more from coming in, The Associated Press reported Thursday.

Last year, the Seaway carried goods worth nearly $17 billion.

It’s trickier to reroute goods meant for the St. Lawrence Seaway than those headed west, said Paul Larson, a University of Manitoba supply chain management professor.

“To me, it becomes this guessing game because there’s alternative pathways to market, but some of them are a bit more circuitous,” he explained.

Manitoba grain heading east is typically dependent on the Seaway, he added.

“When that gets disrupted, then quickly you’ve got to look for alternative pathways, usually which are going to be more expensive and/or slower.”

The shipping artery hasn’t been shut down by a strike since 1968.

— with files from the Associated Press

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com