Grain handler G3 Canada has announced its third move into Alberta, with plans for an elevator near Morinville, about 25 km north of Edmonton.
The Winnipeg company said Thursday it will start construction “shortly” at its chosen site just west of town, connecting to Canadian National Railway (CN) track on the north side of Highway 642.
The new elevator, which the company plans to complete in 2020, is expected to have storage capacity for 42,000 tonnes of grain and a loop track system to load 150-car trains under “continuous” motion.
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The company said the new site will be “designed for speed and efficiency” with throughput capacity to unload incoming trucks in under five minutes.
The company — jointly owned by Bunge, Saudi Arabia’s state ag investment firm SALIC and Class B farmer-shareholders through the Farmers Equity Trust — has built and opened several elevators in the Saskatchewan and Manitoba markets since 2013, when it was known as CWB.
In Alberta, however, G3 concrete is only now under construction. The company in recent months announced it will have a new elevator next year at Wetaskiwin, about 100 km south of Morinville, and another in 2020 at Carmangay, about 60 km north of Lethbridge.
Another new G3 elevator is also under construction at Maidstone, Sask., about 55 km southeast of Lloydminster, for a 2019 opening.
The Morinville site will be “well placed” to move grain to G3’s export terminal at Vancouver when that facility opens, also expected in 2020, the company said.
Grain handling already at Morinville includes Westmor Terminals, part-owned by Richardson International. Westmor’s elevator, near G3’s planned site west of town, has concrete and steel bin capacity for 41,840 tonnes of grain.
The Morinville Municipal Seed Cleaning Co-op, on the south side of town, is also equipped for rail car and container loading. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
