Parrish & Heimbecker to build Class I-served grain terminal near Vancouver port

Parrish & Heimbecker Ltd. (P&H) late last week announced plans to move forward with the Fraser Grain Terminal in Surrey, British Columbia, after the project received permit approval from the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.

To be served by CN and Canadian Pacific, the terminal will handle about 4 million tons of Canadian grain and specialty crop exports heading to markets in China and Southeast Asia annually. Construction is slated to start by year’s end and conclude in late 2020.

The export terminal near the Port of Vancouver will address two major constraints: limited western Canada rail capacity and a shortage of port industrial land for grain-handling activities, P&H officials said in a press release. A family-owned Canadian grain company, P&H has secured a long-term lease from the port authority for the site and will operate the terminal.

The facility will feature modern storage facilities, three state-of-the-art shiploaders equipped with dust-reducing systems and a fully enclosed, above-ground conveying system. P&H plans to extend existing rail loading areas to accommodate high-speed rail-car unloading operations, which will improve loading efficiency and dramatically improve rail-car cycle times between the Canadian Prairies and metropolitan Vancouver, company officials said.

The project includes a semi-loop track, realignment of an existing track, an extension to three existing holding tracks, construction of an integrated truck and rail-car loading facility, and a new container loading facility with an associated storage yard.

"This [terminal] will not only benefit P&H's customers, but also help us to better serve all our customers," said Doug MacDonald, CN’s senior vice president-rail centric supply chain growth.

Adds Joan Hardy, CP’s VP of sales and marketing-grain and fertilizers: “These advancements fit with our 8,500-foot, high-efficiency product train model and are what the grain supply chain needs as we continue to deliver for farmers, shippers and the broader economy."