(file photo/ CHAT NEWS Today )

By Tiffany Goodwein

Medicine Hat businesses feeling economic effects of rail blockades, COVID-19

Mar 3, 2020 | 1:19 PM

They’re two issues plaguing much of the country. Rail blockades in protest of the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline and fears of COVID-19.

Both bringing delays at the ports, leaving the Canadian economy and businesses like Cancarb in Medicine Hat caught in the cross-hairs.

“Well ultimately you want to sell and if you can’t get product to the other end you can’t sell your product.” Ross Buchholz, Cancarb, VP Product Quality and Development explained.

The company manufactures carbon black– a key ingredient often used in wiper blades, seals, and gaskets. According to Buchholz, shipments to the east coast port have been largely hampered by rail blockades, and on west coast, it’s the Coronavirus in China slowing the export of goods.

“The containers aren’t arriving at the ports. There’s a big backlog so getting them loaded has been a challenge at the ports in Montreal. In Vancouver, It’s different because the ships have a normal rotation of moving through the ports including Vancouver and they aren’t able to get to all the ports in China for example and so that means they have to change their schedule or even change the ships so they are arriving at different times,” Buchholz said.

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And that poses a challenge because about 60 per cent of their product gets shipped overseas.

But the company is used to managing its share of export delays due to weather, and previous rail strikes.

This time around their international distributors have helped speed up some of the delays and they have resorted to other ways to bypass the blockades in Canada.

“We have the option of going directly by truck, so loading a truck not having it go on rail to Montreal so that’s what we’ve done in some cases,” Buchholz said.

But it’s not just Cancarb feeling the impact.

Scott Lehr is a vice president with the Medicine Hat Chamber of Commerce and the chair of the Agribusiness council. He says he’s heard many concerns from local businesses and farmers.

“There’s grain sitting not being able to be moved. It’s been three weeks, it’s going to be a month behind schedule. Businesses are having increased costs because they can’t move product to the port adding two to three thousand dollars a load to get their product to port,” Lehr said.

And those extra costs are having an impact on the businesses bottom line.

“For example farmers have been having trouble making payments because they’ve had grain scheduled to move, and now they aren’t being able to sell that product.”

That’s why the Medicine Hat Chamber of Commerce has been pushing constructive communication between all levels of government.

So that Canada’s economy can once again return to business as usual .