BC Business
Richardson International North Vancouver | BCBusinessRichardson International Vancouver Grain Terminal Storage.
Port Metro Vancouver announced today that it has granted Winnipeg-based Richardson International Ltd., Canada’s largest privately owned agribusiness, a project permit to build two additional 40,000-metric-tonne concrete grain storage annexes at its port terminal facility in North Vancouver. Plans are to begin construction on the $120 million project immediately.
The investment is the biggest Richardson International has made in the Port of Vancouver in more than 20 years, says Curt Vossen, president and CEO of Richardson International. “We are creating jobs, supporting Port Metro Vancouver’s vision to grow the port and ultimately helping to increase Canadian trade by remaining competitive and ensuring continued access to global markets for Prairie farmers,” he said in a press statement.
The decision rides on the back of big changes that were implemented in the Canadian grain industry when the Canadian Wheat Board was stripped, in late 2011, of its marketing monopoly on wheat and barley, as well as other industry changes.
Darwin Sobkow, executive vice-president of Agribusiness Operations, highlighted “rapidly emerging markets in Asia-Pacific and around the world” as a key benefit to the terminal expansion.
Richardson International’s Vancouver terminal had been operating at maximum capacity for several years, handling over three million metric tonnes of grains and oilseeds annually. The expansion will enable Richardson to handle over five million metric tonnes a year.
In business for more than a century and a half, Richardson International has more than 1,800 employees across Canada and is an international handler and merchandiser of all major Canadian-grown grains and oilseeds, as well as a processor and manufacturer of canola-based products.