A planned $30 million expansion of the Port of Oshawa is expected to provide farmers in the central part of the province with a better means to move their grain.
The so-called Port of Oshawa Export Expansion Plan will extend the marine infrastructure to accommodate two docked vessels, improve loading and unloading times, expand storage capacity with the addition of a new grain silo, upgrade roads and improve stormwater management.
In particular, the planned improvements will better support grain farmers in central Ontario, offering a more practical transport solution than trucking their grains across the Greater Toronto Area to the port in Hamilton, according to a release from the Hamilton Oshawa Port Authority (HOPA). Indeed, improving grain storage and upgrading the terminal at the Oshawa is also expected to remove an estimated 12,000 long-distance heavy truck trips from local highways.
Over the coming decades, the growth of Ontario’s grain production for export is expected to increase by 2 million tonnes, with at least 300,000 tonnes expected to be produced within the Port of Oshawa’s catchment area. Oshawa currently exports nearly 75,000 tonnes of grain/year, with the goal to boost that number to 250,000 to 300,000 tonnes.
“A strong Port of Oshawa is important to growing industry across Durham Region and will be particularly important for farmers in the area,” said Ian Hamilton, HOPA President and Chief Executive Officer.
HOPA is investing $16 million in the project, with the federal government recently announcing it will spend $14 million, to be drawn from the National Trade Corridors Fund.
Source : Syngenta