Rival rail bids to form USCanada-Mexico network

IN BRIEF

RUSSIA: Global agribusiness giant Bunge has sold its Rostov grain terminal in Russia for an undisclosed sum, Latifundist reported on 26 March.

Rostov’s new owners were Marat Shaydaev and Alexey Chemerichko, former managers of Novorossiysk Grain Plant PJSC and United Grain Company, the report said.

The Rostov terminal handled river-sea vessels, with a storage capacity of 42,000 tonnes and a trans-shipment capacity of about 1M tonnes/year.

“Previously, Rostov Grain Terminal was a captive terminal. Currently, we are planning to make the terminal accessible to all market players,” Chemerichko was quoted as saying.

BRAZIL: State-owned oil company Petrobras reportedly cancelled its bunkering operations at the southern port of Rio Grande on 16 April, AgriCensus wrote.

“Unofficial sources say Petrobras suspended bunker deliveries owing to a big contaminated quantity of VLSFO [very low sulphur fuel oil] at their tank storages, and decided to suspend all bunker operations temporarily to test all stocks,” shipping agency Williams was quoted as saying.

This potentially left soyabean-carrying vessels without bunker fuel at the height of the busy export window, AgriCensus said.

SINGAPORE: Singapore-based NYK Bulkship (Asia) announced on 19 March that it had signed a contract with Neste to transport renewable diesel.

In December 2020, NYK Bulkship (Asia) made the first spot contract for the ocean transportation of renewable diesel from Singapore to North America with delivery completed in February 2021.

Rival rail bids to form USCanada-Mexico network

Less than a month after Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) agreed to buy Kansas City Southern (KCS) railroad for US$29bn to create the first USCanada-Mexico rail network, Canadian National Railway Co (CN) has made a higher offer for KCS of US$33.7bn, World Grain reported on 21 April.

The agreed deal would have created a combined rail company called Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKS) that would expand to 32,186km (20,000 miles).

“This deal links origination in production-rich origins that CP has, to new export and domestic consumption markets that we simply just can’t get to today,” CP executive vice president and chief marketing officer John Kenneth Brooks was quoted as saying in a conference call with investors on 22 March. “It gives our corn, soyabean, wheat, canola and products of meals, oils and ethanol … additional domestic markets. Producers and shippers gain routes to the Gulf of Mexico and, of course, into Mexico itself.”

However, CN CEO JJ Ruest said a KCS merger with his company would create a network with “broader reach and greater scale”, expanding the total addressable markets by some US$8bn across the Canadian trans-border, the US domestic sector, and the rapidly-growing Mexico-US markets.

The KCS board of directors said it would evaluate CN’s proposal in accordance with the terms of its merger agreement with CP, World Grain reported.

Ever Given refloated in Suez Canal

The huge Ever Given container ship blocking the Suez Canal was successfully refloated on 29 March, American Shipper reported.

The 400m long, 200,000 tonne vessel had been blocking one of the world’s biggest trade routes for six days, holding up around US$9.6bn of goods each day and some 320 ships.

However, the ship – which is leased by Taiwanese firm Evergreen Marine Corp – is now being held by the Suez Canal Authority, which is demanding a US$916M fine.

The Suez Canal is the shortest link between Asia (including palm oil producers Malaysia and Indonesia) and

Photo: Adobe Stock The Ever Given was successfully refloated after blocking the Suez Canal for almost a week

Europe. Re-routing vessels around the Cape of Good Hope adds around eight days to journeys, according to the BBC. AgriCensus said the canal was also important to Black Sea grain or oilseed exporters as it cut the time taken to connect Black Sea ports with the Middle East or Asia.

Greenfield Louisiana to build new terminal

Export grain elevator Greenfield Louisiana has filed permits to build a 36-silo grain terminal on the west bank of St John the Baptist Parish, World Grain reported on 8 March.

The terminal would provide storage, processing and elevator operations for soyabeans, wheat and corn, the company said. Greenfield Louisiana’s application for permits followed a request by the Port of South Louisiana (POSL) for US$25M in funding for the port project from the US Department of Transportation (DOT).

If given approval, the POSL would lease the dock to Greenfield, World Grain wrote.The POSL is the largest grain port in the USA, according to World Grain, handling more than half of annual US grain exports.

Greenfield Louisiana expected to move more than 11M tonnes of agriculture products, primarily soyabeans, corn and wheat, along with some other locally-grown speciality crops, to the export market, World Grain said. Products would be transported mainly by barge on the Mississippi River or the inland waterway system to the new grain elevator.