Record Setting Year at the Port of Thunder Bay!
by Scott A. Sumner
I sat down with Chris Heikkinen, CEO of the Port of Thunder Bay to talkabout the 2024 season and what to expect for 2025!
How did the Port of Thunder Bay perform in 2024?
“2024 was a very good year for the Port of Thunder Bay. We hadshipments that totaled 10.8 million tonnes for the season. That was thehighest tally since 1997, so the port was humming.
”What were the most important shipments?
“ Grain is the number one commodity that is handled in Thunder Bay. Wehave very large and efficient grain elevators at the Port of ThunderBay. Our main stay cargo, if you will, is grain exports. Grain is moveddown through the seaway system. Some of it is filtered into Great Lakesports but the majority goes to the St Lawrence River where if it takenon a laker and gets reelevated in the river to larger salt watervessels, if going overseas. We also have salt water vessels coming allthe way up to Thunder Bay now to take grain back directly overseas.”How many ships came to Thunder Bay last season?“ We exceeded 500 vessels calls in Thunder Bay
.”What is the second most important cargo through the Port of Thunder Bay?
“ Potash is number two now and we set a record last year for the amount of potash handled in 2024. We had never had that much in a singleseason ever before. That is a really big story for our port. There are a couple of terminals handling that product, Thunder Bay Terminals andMobile X terminal. They are very efficient terminals that are doing a very good job at moving that product that comes from Saskatchewan.Canada has the largest potash reserve in Saskatchewan so I think there is a big future in potash. Almost all of the potash goes to Europe andinto South America. There is a small amount that goes to the US.
”What are the other products that are shipped through Thunder Bay Port.?
“ Bulk products such as aggregates and coal. The Port also brings in road salt for the region use. This saves costs on transportation. General cargo is next but it doesn't have as big an impact on our numbers because it tends to be quite heavy so you are not going to gettens of thousands of tons on a ship as with a bulk product. These cargoes are handled at Keefer Terminal. This year we have steel products from Europe going to Western Canada, mostly pipe and then rail already manufactured. We can also handle any type of steel.”“ We also had a large volume of phosphate fertilizer products at Keefer- an imported product. Phosphate is one of three essentialingredients in growing anything but we don't produce it here in Canada. It comes from Morocco directly to Thunder Bay and is stored here atKeefer and then the product is either trucked or railed out west.”“Overall we had a 12 % increase year over year on the total volume of goods so an excellent year.”
We may have tariffs coming on from the US. How will that affect the Port of Thunder Bay?
“ I would start by saying the uncertainty isn't good for the economy as a whole. A lot of what is handled at the port is going over seas so itdoesn't necessarily have any relationship with tariffs from the US. But because the trade tariffs can have such a complex impact on the worldwe are trying to monitor for any residual impacts that could affect our Port. For example with Trump putting the tariffs on steel how does thatimpact US steel production. Many of the ships coming into the seaway system are coming inbound with steel or product or associated withsteel production. If there is a increase or decrease in the volume of vessels coming into the seaway system, that matters because if it isn'tcoming with something, it may not come at all and get export cargo from Thunder Bay. The ship may not make the journey so can't take anythingback meaning available ships might decrease.”
Canada has a lot of oil that we ship to the US but we could be shipping it elsewhere to other parts of Canada. There seems to be some opposition to having a East West pipe line expand to go through Quebec for example. Do you think there is any potential to have oil shipped tothe Port of Thunder Bay and be loaded on ships?
“ I think physically oil would be a viable option out of Thunder Bay. It is way too early to tell if there is a business case to be made forit, but certainly from a physical standpoint it could be done. It would require some investment in the infrastructure and vessel capacity onthe seaway system. We have explored this concept in the past, it hasn't happened, but is still on our radar.”
What can we expect for 2025 at the Port of Thunder Bay?
“ The Soo locks will open on March 25th so we usually expect our first vessel about a day after that. The first saltie could be some daysafter that. It does look like the season will start with a good slate of vessels so that is always a encouraging sign for the shippingseason.”“ We are anticipating much of the same in 2025 as we saw in 2024. We are going to be monitoring closely how the trade activity will beaffected by tariffs. A small amount of our shipments go into the US which could affect us but there are also opportunities with shiftingtrade patterns, as they may reroute to go to Europe if the US market drys up.”>“ Grain is a very important commodity for example, that is food security for the world, and Canada grows a lot of grain and is highquality so sought after.”We hope 2025 will be as good as 2024 and it helps Thunder Bay and region by bringing a lot of jobs to the city. Most of the product wehandle is coming from Western Canada or destined to Western Canada. We are really bringing in dollars from outside the community and beingspent in the community.
”What are your thoughts on the recently announced Lithium smelter project on the Mission Island site?
“ Lithium is an interesting emerging economy for Thunder Bay. I'm not 100% familiar with what their plans are but it is an excitingdevelopment to hear they are considering processing the lithium here inThunder Bay. It would depend on the processing done here to see if it would be a viable shipping opportunity based on the quantity.”
The Port will remain a strong economic force in Thunder Bay.
“ We are a strong, efficient supply chain and the most environmentallyfriendly mode of transportation. The grain harvest was solid lastseason and we are looking at Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where themajority of our grain is pulled from, to be good again.”
