Port of Churchill

The Port of Churchill in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada is a port on Hudson Bay, part of the Atlantic Ocean.

The port was originally owned by the Government of Canada but was sold in 1997 to the American company OmniTRAX to run privately. 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. No sale had been finalized by July 2016, and OmniTRAX shut down the port and the railroad freight operations in August 2016.

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. The port is connected to the Hudson Bay Railway, a subsidiary of OmniTRAX. Further connections are made with the Canadian National Railway system. It was the only port of its size and scope in Canada that did 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 in the late 1920s, and first opened for grain shipments in 1931, following a six-year project to build the railroad to connect the town and port to other points in Canada.

The port—and all freight railroad service to the port—was shut down in August 2016 following the Government of Canada's ending of the Wheat Board monopoly, which subsequently allowed Canadian farmers to sell grain to all market participants, and shippers were free to ship via lower-cost non-Arctic ports and transport routes.

The port is iced in for much of the year and is accessible only between late July and early November. For example, in 2010 the shipping season was July 28 to Nov. 2. Shallow waters also restrict its development as an ocean port. Despite these restrictions the port remains useful for shipping grain and other bulk cargos because shipping by rail costs several times as much, per ton, as shipping by sea.

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