Real Tetrault CEO of Emerson Milling
Real Tetrault, president and chief executive officer of Emerson Milling Inc., saw the inland port as a solution to tedious grain transportation.
Photo courtesy of Mid Canada Transload Services Ltd.
 
LETELLIER, MANITOBA, CANADA — Mid Canada Transload Services Ltd. is building a new inland port and rail siding in southern Manitoba on the U.S.-Canadian border. It will be built on a 250-acre green field site, 1 mile south of Letellier, Manitoba, and 7 miles from the U.S. border. It will be located alongside Manitoba's major export highway 75 and have access to two Class 1 railways, the CN and BNSF railways. The site will have daily rail service to and from the United States and Mexico.

Real Tetrault, president and chief executive officer of Emerson Milling Inc., saw the inland port as a solution to tedious grain transportation. Currently, his company is shipping oat products by CN rail into the United States and Mexico. The product is loaded on CN rail and the rail cars are interchanged at Emerson, Manitoba, with the BNSF railway. 

This led to the idea of building an industrial park to transload other products that travel by rail but still require a truck to move the product to and from the rail site. The new location will be of particular importance to the agricultural trade as a private producer car loading site.  According to Mid Canada Transload Services Ltd., this will allow farmers to ship their products by rail to either Canadian, U.S. or Mexican destinations. Another vital agricultural market that Tetrault wants to capitalize on is “identity preserved” grain shipments to millers and processing plants.

Cliff Cullen, Manitoba’s Growth, Enterprise and Trade Minister, welcomed the new investment.

“Cross-border trade is vital to the growth and prosperity of Manitoba’s economy,” Cullen said. “This development is strategically positioned with direct links to international markets. Manitoba producers, processors and small and mid-size shippers will benefit from the opportunities this new inland port will provide.”

Mid Canada Transload Services Ltd. also will handle other commodities and manufactured products that travel in and out of Manitoba and Saskatchewan by rail.  

“Any product that travels more than 10 hours by truck is more cost effective freight when shipped by rail,” Tetrault said. “We are offering a service to and from our rail site and we will transload the customers’ product in a safe and efficient environment. We are also willing to build on this site as our customer may require.”