WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA —  Ag Growth International Inc. (AGI) announced on Sept. 11, a commercial grain storage bin it manufactured that is located at a customer's export terminal in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, collapsed. The incident did not result in any injuries.

The grain storage bin that collapsed is part of a new bin line that was developed and manufactured by AGI over the past two years in response to market demand. It is a larger version of AGI’s standard hopper line. This new bin line is unique and distinct from the rest of AGI’s product lines, including its other grain storage bin products, and is not in place or being sold to any other customers.

In May 2019, a similar product in a substantially different application and installed at a different site for a different customer suffered a failure, the cause of which is unknown at this time.  Based on that event and out of an abundance of caution, AGI undertook an extensive engineering re-evaluation of the product prior to inclusion in two additional applications. 

Fifteen of these bins are located at the facility where the incident occurred and an additional 20 have been manufactured for another customer but have not yet been commissioned.

The customer at the facility where the incident occurred has asserted AGI's responsibility for the collapse, however, the cause of and any responsibility for the incident have not yet been determined. AGI’s immediate focus is on working with its customers to ensure the safety of all personnel and security of their facilities. The recovery, investigation and remediation may take a number of months to complete.

“We have reacted immediately, moving to work with our customers to discover the cause of this incident,” said Tim Close, president and chief executive officer of AGI. “Our primary concern is safety of personnel at the sites. Once recovery of the site has been completed the investigation will provide the facts for us to determine the required remediation and the impact on AGI. We are confident that we can contain the impact on AGI’s business while collaborating with our customers to effect any required remediation, and continuing the growth and success across AGI.