| Port of Churchill | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view of the port in 1996 | |
 | |
| Location | |
| Country | Canada |
| Location | Churchill, Manitoba |
| Coordinates | 58°46′45″N 94°11′36″W / 58.77917°N 94.19333°W[1] |
| UN/LOCODE | CACHV[2] |
| Details | |
| Opened | 1931 |
| Owned by | Arctic Gateway Group LP |
| No. of berths | 4[3] |
| Draft depth | 17.0 m.[3] |
| Statistics | |
| Website arcticgateway | |
The Port of Churchill is a privately-owned port on Hudson Bay in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. Routes from the port connect to the North Atlantic through the Hudson Strait. As of 2008[update], the port had four deep-sea berths capable of handling Panamax-size vessels for the loading and unloading of grain, bulk commodities, general cargo, and tanker vessels.[4][5] The port is connected to the Hudson Bay Railway, which shares the same parent company, and cargo connections are made with the Canadian National Railway system at HBR's southern terminus in The Pas. It is the only port of its size and scope in Canada that does not connect directly to the country's road system; all goods shipped overland to and from the port must travel by rail.
The port was built by the Government of Canada and remained under federal government ownership until its sale in 1997 to the American company OmniTRAX for $10.[6] In December 2015, OmniTRAX announced it was negotiating a sale of the port, and the associated Hudson Bay Railway, to a group of First Nations based in northern Manitoba.[7][8] With no sale finalized by July 2016, OmniTRAX shut down the port and major railroad freight operations along the HBR in August 2016.[8][9] The railway continued to carry cargo to supply the town of Churchill itself until the line was damaged by flooding on May 23, 2017. The Port and the Hudson Bay Railway were sold to Arctic Gateway Group — a consortium of First Nations, local governments, and corporate investors — in 2018.[10] On July 9, 2019, ships on missions to resupply arctic communities began stopping at the port for additional cargo,[11] and the port began shipping grain again on September 7, 2019.[12] The port and railway came under complete community and Indigenous ownership in 2021, after AGT Food and Ingredients and Fairfax Financial transferred their shares in Arctic Gateway to OneNorth – a consortium of community and Indigenous partners which owned the other fifty-percent of Arctic Gateway's shares.[13]
- ^ "Churchill Harbour". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
- ^ "Code for Trade and Transport Locations (UN/LOCODE) (CA) CANADA". www.service.unece.org. UNECE. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
- ^ a b "Port of Churchill, Canada". www.findaport.com. Shipping Guides Ltd. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Globewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Churchill Port and Railway Owners Push to Ship Million Tonnes in 2008". Marketwire. Marketwire Inc. November 5, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
- ^ Fowler, Adam (January 2, 2008). "Canada's climate change boomtown". BBC. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
- ^ Macintosh, Cameron. "OmniTrax sells Port of Churchill, Hudson Bay rail line to First Nations group". CBC News. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
- ^ a b Lambert, Steve (July 28, 2016). "Port of Churchill shut down after being refused bailout, premier suggests". The Canadian Press. Toronto Star. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
macleans201608116was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Kavanagh, Sean (September 14, 2018). "Feds to spend $117M for Churchill railway sale, repairs". CBC News. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
- ^ Citizen, Thompson (July 10, 2019). "First ship docks at Churchill July 9 to load cargo bound for Nunavut". Thompson Citizen. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Port of Churchill moves under 100% local and Indigenous ownership". RealAgriculture.com. March 11, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2021.