Ceres Northgate Terminal is a 1,200 acre multi-modal, multi-commodity facility designed to handle dry and liquid commodities.
On Aug. 16 the court denied a motion brought by Ceres for summary judgment and set the trial for Oct. 23. Scoular is claiming it lost $66 million as a result of Ceres termination of the proposed joint project.
Ceres said it intends to vigorously defend the action at trial.
In late January 2014, Ceres terminated its planned partnership with Scoular to build a grain facility at the Saskatchewan based commodity center. Instead Ceres decided to utilize its subsidiary, Riverland Ag, to design and develop the grain elevator.
The Northgate Commodities Logistics Centre is a grain, agriculture services and oilfield supplies transloading site.
“This decision is disappointing to Scoular and, more importantly, is a setback for customers at Northgate who will be deprived of access to our long-established international shipping networks serving end-use customers,” said Bob Ludington, chief operating officer of Scoular, in reaction to Ceres announcement in 2014. “However, Northgate was a prong in Scoular’s much larger strategy to add value for producers and efficiency for end-users through an extensive transportation and logistics network supported by best-in-class grain merchants. Scoular will continue aggressively to pursue that strategy in Canada and elsewhere.”
The Scoular Co. operates 90 independent business units that provide supply chain solutions for end-users and suppliers of grain, feed ingredients, and food ingredients around the globe. From more than 70 offices and facilities in North and South America, with 700+ employees the company is engaged in the business of buying, selling, storing and handling grain and ingredients as well as managing transportation and logistics. According to the2017 Grain & Milling Annual, Scoular has a total of 85 grain storage facilities with a total capacity of 120.100 million bushels.
Ceres Global Ag Corp., headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., is focused on two primary businesses: a grain storage, handling and merchandising unit; and a commodity logistics unit.
Ceres’ Grain Storage unit is anchored by its 100% ownership of Riverland Ag Corp., a collection of eight grain storage and handling assets in Minnesota, New York, Saskatchewan and Ontario having aggregate storage capacity of approximately 44.8 million bushels as of June 30.
Ceres’ Commodity Logistics unit is focused on the development of a Commodity Logistics Centre in Northgate, Saskatchewan. The Northgate Commodities Logistics Centre is a grain, agriculture services and oilfield supplies transloading site.
