Mark Hemmes Archives - Manitoba Co-operator

A freight train at Manchac, La., about 75 km east of Baton Rouge. (CN.ca)

Oil on rail likely won’t interfere with grain movements

By GFM Network News, Glen Hallick - MarketsFarm January 11, 2019

CNS Canada — When considering the pattern of how grain is shipped by rail in Canada, it’s very unlikely increased oil shipments would interfere, according to Quorum Corp. “That’s largely because the flow of grain is predominantly to the West Coast and Thunder Bay,” said Quorum president Mark Hemmes. About 80 per cent of Canadian

A CN train hauling grain cars circles the loop at GrainsConnect’s Maymont, Sask. loop-track/power-on terminal. The locomotive never has to be detached from the train when loading or unloading, which cuts the time it spends at an elevator by up to half compared to conventional grain terminals.

News

Don’t stop: Loop tracks set to revolutionize shipping

If you never decouple the locomotive, you never lose braking pressure – and that's huge

By Jeff Melchior December 27, 2018

The loop-track/power-on grain terminals popping up throughout the Prairies are kind of like the marines — no rail car gets left behind. That’s one example of how these terminals improve efficiency in Canada’s grain transportation system, said Warren Stow, president of GrainsConnect Canada, whose company is currently building two such facilities in the Alberta communities

Crops

Prairie grain movement not perfect, but not in crisis

By GFM Network News, Phil Franz-Warkentin January 22, 2018

CNS Canada — Canadian grain exports are moving out of the country at a similar pace as they were a year ago, but there are still some challenges along the logistical chain. “Right now we’re looking at the second largest supply of grain that we’ve ever had to move,” said Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum

Editorial, Opinion

Editorial: Playing with trains

By Gord Gilmour February 16, 2017

With spring just around the corner, it’s becoming clear a big wreck in grain shipping is unlikely this winter. Despite a 76-million-tonne crop to move, big blizzards and those infamous periods of frigid winter temperatures, the system has held together. Mark Hemmes of grain monitor firm Quorum said in a recent article in the Co-operator

Cereals, News

Measuring changes in the grain transportation system

Grain monitor proves that better data collection can drive change and improvement

By Alex Binkley February 15, 2017

The business adage that you can’t change what you don’t measure seems to fit the Prairie grain transportation system. In a presentation to the annual conference of the Canadian Agriculture Economics Society, Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum Corp., which tracks the performance of the grain transportation and handling system for Transport Canada, used the numbers

The 2015-16 crop year was another banner year for Canada’s grain-handling and transportation system with grain movement almost matching last year’s record.

Crops, News

Grain system pulled out all the stops for 2015-16

Grain monitor Mark Hemmes says this could be the new normal

By Allan Dawson September 8, 2016

Canada’s grain-handling and transportation system showed just what it’s capable of in the past crop year. “It was kind of like a logistical utopia,” Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum Corporation, the firm hired by the federal government to track grain-handling and transportation statistics, said in an interview Aug. 31. “The whole system worked really well

Cereals, News

Record grain movement masks systemic ills

Long-term issues haven't been addressed yet

By Allan Dawson April 7, 2016

Grain shippers aren’t cheering too loudly about record grain movement in the 2014-15 crop year, and warn that costly grain backlogs like those in 2013-14 may recur. “We don’t want people to read about this and say: ‘problem solved,’” Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA), said in an interview. “It’s

Cereals, Local news

After 20 years, grain transportation still dominates debate at Fields on Wheels

The more things change the more they stay the same, but the grain system has made huge gains, says Mark Hemmes

By Allan Dawson December 15, 2015

Canada’s grain sector has seen momentous changes since the first Fields on Wheels conference 20 years ago. But debating grain transportation policy still tops the agenda. As the annual event’s 20th anniversary was celebrated Dec. 2, speakers offered wildly contrasting views of how the grain transportation is performing and what it needs for the future.

Cereals, News

How are the railways doing? Depends on whom you ask

Grain companies deny the railway allegation  of ordering ‘phantom’ cars

By Allan Dawson March 23, 2015

The railways are moving more grain than during the same period a year ago, but whether shippers’ needs are being met depends on whom you talk to. “Contrary to claims recently made by the new Ag Transport Coalition (ATC) that CN is somehow failing to meet demand, we know we’re responding very efficiently to all

Stephen Harper in a discussion at a conference

Crops, News

Harper says railways can’t be allowed to misuse market power

The order-in-council requiring minimum grain movement expires at the end of March

By Allan Dawson March 20, 2015

Western Canadian farmers and grain companies have a new supporter for their argument that the railways have too much market power — Prime Minister Stephen Harper, no less. A year after the Canadian cabinet in an unprecedented move passed an order-in-council requiring Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific (CP) railways to ship a weekly minimum

Daily Network News

Budget cuts may signal shift away from food aid says Canadian Foodgrains Bank

China lifts Brazilian poultry imports ban over bird flu

U.S. livestock: Cattle futures slow descent

Tag Archives Mark Hemmes

Oil on rail likely won’t interfere with grain movements

Don’t stop: Loop tracks set to revolutionize shipping

Prairie grain movement not perfect, but not in crisis

Editorial: Playing with trains

Measuring changes in the grain transportation system

Grain system pulled out all the stops for 2015-16

Record grain movement masks systemic ills

After 20 years, grain transportation still dominates debate at Fields on Wheels

How are the railways doing? Depends on whom you ask

Harper says railways can’t be allowed to misuse market power

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