CN-served frac sand facility opens in Alberta

Evergreen Transloading and Superior Silica Sands L.L.C. yesterday announced the opening of a CN-served frac sand transload facility in Sexsmith, Alberta.

The Sexsmith Mega Centre will help fulfill strong demand for high quality, Northern White silica sand as proppant for the oil and gas industry in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, Evergreen and Superior Silica Sand officials said in a press release.

Located adjacent to a CN station in Grande Prairie, Alberta, the transload facility will be operated by Evergreen. The facility can accommodate 45 rail cars and features two 2,000-ton silos. Four additional silos will be built in the coming months, bringing total capacity to 12,000 tons by June, Evergreen and Superior Silica Sand officials said.

CN's network is uniquely positioned to provide Wisconsin frac sand producers efficient access to key North American shale deposits, including those in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, said Doug Macdonald, CN's vice president of industrial products.

"Over the past five years, CN's frac sand market has grown by nearly 300 percent, rising to more than 50,000 carloads in 2013," he said. "Our end-to-end service focus has supported that growth, and we expect to achieve $300 million in frac sand revenue by 2015."