Rail blockades are upending Canadian meat and grain supply chains, pushing storage capacity to its limit and squeezing the flow of feed and propane to farms as producers rack up millions in additional costs and lost sales, reports the Financial Post.
So far this year, grain shipments to Canadian ports have dropped by 1.2 million tonnes, with the most intense losses occurring over the past month, when environmental and Indigenous-rights activists erected random blockades protesting the construction of TC Energy Corp.’s planned $6.6 billion Coastal GasLink project.
Fifty-two ships are currently waiting to be filled in Vancouver and Prince Rupert, though the removal of certain blockades Tuesday allowed some grain to begin moving again to those critical ports.
Grain elevators in Western provinces are now at 90% capacity.
