Cando Rail Services president and CEO Brian Cornick in Edmonton on Tuesday, Dec. 17. DAVID BLOOM / POSTMEDIA
The new terminal will provide additional rail capacity to Alberta’s Industrial Heartland.
Cando Rail Services and CN Railway have partnered to build a new rail terminal in Sturgeon County. The terminal is centrally located in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland west of CN’s Beamer Spur, south of Canada Kuwait Petrochemical and southwest of Pembina Pipelines Redwater Fractionation site. Phase one of the terminal will utilize a loop-track system that will enable storage of up to 1,900 railcars with the potential to expand to 5,000.
Initial work on the site has already begun with full completion of the facility expected by the end of 2020.
“We’re delighted to welcome Cando as an integrated business partner that will increase access to national and global markets,” said Sturgeon County’s Deputy Mayor Neal Comeau. “Cando’s investment in Alberta’s Heartland will allow industrial facilities in the Heartland to concentrate on their core business while partnering with Cando to access increased transportation and logistics solutions. World-class rail infrastructures will further enhance the competitiveness of Sturgeon County and Alberta’s Industrial Heartland.”
Graphic Supplied
The new terminal will enable CN and CP to get more products to market faster as well as offer services seven days a week for railcar stain and storage, including unit train storage capability for short or long-term, loaded or empty rail cars. The terminal will also offer various value-added services including rail car switching, air testing, rail car repair and cleaning, translating, material handling, inventory management, car stenciling, placard replacement, AEI tags, DG inspections and graffiti touch-ups.
“There are pinch points throughout Canada. There always will be. What we do as a company is look where those pinch points are. There is a large pinch point in Alberta Industrial Heartland with respect to moving products to the market. It gives them a relief valve,” said Cando Rail’s president and CEO Brian Cornick on Tuesday.
Cornick noted this investment will help solidify Cando’s national logistics footprint; “This is the single largest investment our company has ever made in its 40-year history. We’re committed here. When we make a decision to go somewhere we go all in, and we’re all in.”
The new railyard won’t solve all of Alberta’s oil capacity troubles, but Cornick said it will help make a dent. The nearby Scotford Yard is packed so tightly that it can’t even unload cars, the Cando president added, and this yard will be able to load the cars and have CN haul them away seamlessly.
The new terminal is expected to create a dozen full-time positions at the facility and more auxiliary positions.
“The purpose of Sturgeon Terminal is to move more Alberta oil to more international destinations faster in partnership with CN,” said Cornick. “This is an investment in us and our employees. We’ve been here for forty years as a company we see this as an investment in Alberta and we see this as an investment in Canada because we see Sturgeon Terminal being here forty years from now shipping Alberta product.”
Many members of local and provincial government were in attendance at the Dec. 17 media advisory to speak on the investment.
“When you have this many levels of government in one room you know how important this is,” said Associate Minister of Natural Gas, Dale Nally MLA for Morinville-St. Albert. “It’s not just good for the riding, it’s good for the province and it’s good for the country. Since we got elected, we’ve been (talking about the) message of getting our energy and getting our resources to market and this is what that’s about.”
The company has 39 locations across the United States and Canada. It currently employs 186 people in Alberta.
Cando Rail Services is an employee-owned company that has provided specialized rail support services across North America for over 40 years. Candy serves many industries including automotive manufacturing, fertilizer/potash, petroleum, grain products, forest products and intermodal.
— With files from Jeff Labine
twitter.com/jamesfbonnell
