Ceres Global : Erie Media – Huge Day for Riverland Ag
July 10, 2014 at 02:05 pm EDT
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Huge day for Riverland AG
On July 7, 2014 by Dave Johnson
Riverland AG put its new vessel loader system to the test when the Lower Lakes Towing Ltd. vessel Cuyahoga docked at the grain storage facility Sunday morning.
"This makes us more versatile in the grain work we do. This is huge for us," said facility manager John Robinson, as the ship was being loaded.
The Cuyahoga, he said, would be taking soft winter grain over to a Riverland AG facility in Buffalo, N.Y.
"They're low and we're making space for a new crop coming in shortly," said Robinson.
There are nine Riverland facilities in the U.S., the only Canadian location is the one in Port Colborne along the Welland Canal.
The grain being loaded Sunday came from local farmers, and from as far away as Chatham, Goderich and north of Toronto.
Though 85% to 90% of the grain that moves in and out of the facility, formerly known as Robin Hood Multifoods, goes by truck, it also moves by rail.
Robinson said the company is looking at using ships more and bringing in a couple of loaded vessels with grain from out west.
Riverland's Port Colborne location can hold 2.2 million bushels of grain in the elevator portion of the large building that also used to produce flour.
Robin Hood Multifoods was taken over by the J.M. Smucker Company in 2004, which sold to Horizon Milling in 2006.
Robinson said the Port Colborne facility was closed in 2008, and purchased by Riverland AG (then known as Whitebox Commodities Holding Corp.) in April 2009.
"We came back in May 2009 and have been shipping and receiving since then. There's no more production here … just storage, with grain in and out.
Mayor Vance Badawey visited Riverland along with Welland MPP Cindy Forester and Welland MP Malcolm Allen to watch the ship being loaded.
"This is great news … it shows Port Colborne is a transportation hub," said Badawey, who has been promoting the city as a multimodal hub for years.
Ceres Global Ag Corp. is a global agricultural, energy and industrial products merchandising and supply chain company. The Company and its subsidiaries serve agricultural, energy and industrial supply chains through sourcing, storing, transporting and marketing of agricultural commodities, value-added products and raw materials. Its segments include Grain, Supply Chain Services, and Seed and Processing. Its Grain segment is engaged in grain procurement and merchandising of specialty grains and oilseeds such as oats, barley, rye, hard red spring wheat, durum wheat, canola, and pulses. The Supply Chain Services segment utilizes its facilities to provide logistics services, storage, and transloading for commodities and industrial products. The Seed and Processing segment is engaged in soybean crush, and seed distribution in western Canada. It operates approximately 11 locations in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Minnesota.
CERES GLOBAL AG CORP. 
