Killarney Guide

BY KIM LANGEN

Hauliers from near and far flocked to the Paterson Grain terminal on a sunny Thursday morning, to take their place in a very long line of loaded semi-trucks laden with soybeans, canola, and oats.

It was an unusual and impressive sight, with the rumbling big rigs extending almost all the way back from the terminal to Hwy. 18.

“The guys are itching to haul,” said Shayne Skeoch, general manager at Paterson Grain. “We’ve been calling them to bring their loads in over the last two days. We’ve called 30 to 40 guys. On a regular day we would have only around 12 guys hauling. They are bringing in mainly soybeans, canola, and some oats. Some are coming from as far as Carivale, Saskatchewan, to the west – that’s canola – and from La Riviere to the east.” 

The reason for the incredibly busy morning yesterday was because the terminal recently unloaded a lot of product from their bins, filling hundreds of railcars. 

And now they are ready to reload the massive bins.

“We loaded two trains this week – 100 cars for an oat train on Monday, and 112 cars of canola on Wednesday,” said Skeoch, who took over his role at Paterson in March, following the promotion of previous general manager Larry Shackel to district manager for Paterson Grain. “There’s a train coming next week for canola.”

Ian Sprott, from Boissevain, said he had been waiting about 45 minutes so far for his chance to deliver his semi-load of canola. “Lots of guys were combining last night,” he said. “And the price for canola is just great this year. It’s the highest I’ve seen so far, around $19.70 a bushel. Paterson called me last night to bring in a load.”

Sprott was outside his rig, and talking with Bryce Scott, also from Boissevain, who was just behind him in the queue. He was loaded up with oats, and the two said they figured they would be there for most of the day waiting to unload and get home again. 

And Chad Taylor, a driver waiting in line halfway back to the highway, said he had driven in from Gainsborough, Saskatchewan, and was hauling contracted oats as well. 

“It is really busy,” said Skeoch on Thursday morning. “It’s just the way it turned out. It’s rare, but it happens. I’ve seen it a couple of times, over the years. They could wait up to an hour and 45 minutes to unload. But it’s good news. It’s good business for the town, and for everyone. What’s the volume today? Altogether, around 3,200 metric tonnes, which will unload between 7 a.m. this morning and 7 p.m. today.”

BUSY DAY AT PATERSON GRAIN – Around 30 rigs were stacked up on the entrance road leading to Paterson Grain in Killarney on Thursday morning, waiting their turn to unload. From left, Ian Sprott and Bryce Scott, both out of Boissevain, stepped down from their cabs to visit in the sunshine, as even more trucks turned onto the road to join the lineup. The flurry of activity is unusual, as normally there are only 10 or 12 guys hauling in at a time.