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Grain Handler of the Year

The program

The CWB's "Grain Handler of the Year" program was created to recognize the top Canadian grain handlers of wheat, durum and barley grown in Western Canada. This initiative helps promote efficient and farmer-responsive performance by the CWB's grain-industry partners.

Award criteria

All CWB grain shippers and suppliers who handle wheat, durum and barley grown in Western Canada are considered. Winners are judged on the following criteria:

Best shipper to a Canadian port

• The highest percentage of rail cars unloaded as directed and authorized.
• The lowest percentage of requested grain grades cancelled or replaced.

Best shipper to a U.S. port

• A minimum shipment of 300 rail cars.
• The highest percentage of shipping accuracy based on rail cars shipped within defined U.S. customers' grade, protein and moisture specifications.

Best Eastern and Western port terminals

• A focus on customer service and communication.
• Terminal performance (productive rail car/lake vessel unloads and vessel loading, accuracy and efficiency).
• Openness to new ideas and procedures which support CWB initiatives.

Award recipients in each of the four categories receive a plaque and the right to call themselves the top grain handler of the year for western Canadian grain farmers. Winners are selected annually in September with the results based on the previous crop year's performance.

If you have further questions, please call the CWB at 1-800-275-4292.

The first-ever award winners, recognized for their accomplishments in the 2008-09 crop year are:

Best shipper to a Canadian port
North West Terminal, Unity, Saskatchewan

North West Terminal (NWT) is a farmer-owned inland terminal established in1993. Located around 185 kilometers north west of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, NWT has a total storage capacity of 63 000 tonnes.

Best shipper to a U.S. port
Viterra Assiniboia, Assiniboia, Saskatchewan

This high-throughput terminal began shipping grain in January 1999. Situated south of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan Viterra Assiniboia can store up to 28 200 tonnes of grain.

Best Eastern port terminal
Bunge of Canada Ltd., Québec City, Québec

Located on the St. Lawrence River in Quebec City, this terminal has a storage capacity of 224 000 tonnes. Open all year-round this shipper is able to accommodate both rail cars and lake vessels.

Best Western port terminal
Prince Rupert Grain Ltd., Prince Rupert, British Columbia

The Prince Rupert Grain Ltd. terminal is designed to handle in excess of seven millions tonnes of grain a year. The terminal has a wheat storage capacity of 202 000 tonnes and can load up to 4 000 tonnes of wheat or barley per hour.