WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA — Richardson International Ltd., Canada’s largest agribusiness, will expand eight of its elevators served by Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) in western Canada, allowing trains to be served by CPKC’s 8,500-foot High Efficiency Product (HEP) model.

Work on the elevators in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta will start this summer and be complete by the end of 2024. Bigger hopper cars, longer trains and shorter turnaround times combine to increase the amount of grain it is possible to move down the tracks.

“Richardson is committed to Canadian farmers and providing growers with modern, high-efficiency facilities and services,” said Darwin Sobkow, president and chief operations officer, Richardson. “Expanding eight elevators will increase capacity and efficiency, enabling Richardson to further benefit from CPKC’s single-line network reaching Canada, the US and Mexico. We have strongly supported the CP-KCS combination throughout the process and look forward to working with CPKC on additional future opportunities for shared growth.”

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada-based Richardson is a worldwide handler and merchandiser of all major Canadian-grown grains and oilseeds and a vertically integrated processor and manufacturer of oats and canola-based products. The company currently ships unit trains from 27 CPKC-served elevators in Canada and one in the northern US. The newest Richardson elevator at Carmichael, Saskatchewan, Canada, a greenfield grain elevator commissioned in early 2023, is its first 8,500-foot HEP site.

“CPKC is thrilled to have these Richardson elevators added to the growing list of already qualified 8,500-foot HEP sites across western Canada,” said John Brooks, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, CPKC. “Richardson’s supply chain and CPKC’s operation will benefit from added efficiency, capacity and fluidity with this investment. Richardson’s ability to run longer trains will mean more grain shipped per train, tighter cycles and more Richardson trains moving across our expanded, single-line network throughout the season.”

In 2021, Richardson acquired Italgrani USA Inc., including the largest North American durum mill located in St. Louis, Missouri, US. The CPKC single-line network creates a seamless pipeline to the Italgrani mill from the durum-rich areas in Saskatchewan, where Richardson elevators are well positioned. Richardson also said the combined network and markets in the southern US and Mexico are opening new doors for its grains, oilseeds and processed products.

With its global headquarters in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, CPKC is the only single-line transnational railway linking Canada, the United States and Mexico. The result of a merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern that became official on April 14, CPKC has about 20,000 route miles.