P&H Starts 28,618-Tonne Grain Storage Expansion at Port of Québec
Parrish & Heimbecker Limited has started building two steel grain silos at its deep-water terminal in Québec City, converting a project that had been moving through federal-land review into an active expansion of Canada’s eastern export infrastructure.
The Canadian agribusiness announced the start of construction on October 15, 2026. Its public statement described two new dockside silos but did not state their capacity or explain the operating constraint they are meant to solve. A separate project description filed through the Canadian Impact Assessment Registry supplies those details: the two bins, identified as BN06 and BN07, are designed to hold a combined 28,618 metric tonnes of corn-basis capacity.
That is a material addition rather than a cosmetic upgrade. P&H told the federal registry that its Québec operation requires at least 80,000 tonnes of storage to receive the trains and vessels serving the site and to load outbound ships. On that basis, the new bins alone represent about 35.8% of the minimum working storage P&H says the terminal needs.
Why P&H needs the new capacity
The underlying issue is an operating transition. P&H acquired the Québec grain-export assets in May 2025 after the terminal had been operated by Sollio Agriculture. The company said in its project filing that it is currently using one of the site’s white storage domes alongside the existing steel bins. That dome is to be returned to neighbouring terminal operator QSL for its sole use.
The new silos therefore do more than raise a headline capacity number. They allow P&H to maintain the storage buffer it considers necessary after relinquishing shared space, while keeping grain close to the berth and existing conveyors. The company says the bins will be fully integrated with the present terminal so grain can move between rail, truck, storage and vessels with fewer handling constraints.
P&H’s filing says the new bins will match the existing BN03 and BN04 structures immediately to their north. The work includes driven steel-pile foundations, concrete slabs and walls, bin erection, structural bridges, top-distribution and bottom-reclaim conveyors, electrical and automation systems, grain sensors, sweeps, aeration platforms and fans.
A 28,618-tonne bridge between trains and ships
Storage at an export terminal is not simply inventory waiting for a buyer. It is the buffer that lets inland arrivals and ocean departures operate on different clocks. Unit trains can arrive before a ship is ready; a vessel can be delayed by weather or scheduling; and different grains or grades may need segregation. Insufficient storage forces an operator to slow receipts, reshuffle product or rely on space controlled by another party.
P&H’s own figures show the scale of that buffer. The planned 28,618 tonnes equal a little over one-third of the stated 80,000-tonne operating minimum. The comparison is an Agrilinkage calculation from company-filed figures, not a throughput forecast. Storage capacity does not reveal how many tonnes the terminal will export in a year, because annual volume also depends on turnover, vessel calls, rail performance, crop supply and customer demand.
The project description also says the adjacent location should reduce the distance grain travels through the terminal when P&H unloads trucks, trains and vessels into storage. That can improve reliability and reduce unnecessary conveying. The scope includes new spout runs, a diverter valve, dust-control equipment and aeration-fan silencers, measures intended to improve handling while limiting noise and dust.
Québec’s value is year-round ocean access
The Port of Québec sits on the St. Lawrence River and provides year-round deep-water access to Atlantic markets. When P&H acquired the terminal assets in 2025, the Québec Port Authority described Anse-au-Foulon as a link to Europe and other international markets. For a grain handler with a national network, that eastern outlet can diversify export routing and provide an alternative to moving every tonne through western ports or the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence system on the same schedule.
The transaction also placed P&H beside QSL, a cargo-handling and logistics operator already established at the port. The current construction clarifies how the two businesses will separate storage use while continuing to operate in the same industrial area. That division matters because the project is designed partly around P&H returning the shared dome to QSL.
P&H operates more than 90 locations across Canada and is active in grain handling, crop inputs, flour and feed milling, animal nutrition, egg grading and food processing. The Québec project strengthens the export end of that vertically integrated network, but the company has not disclosed the project cost, expected annual throughput increase, customer commitments or the mix of crops the added bins will normally hold.
Construction timing needs careful reading
P&H now says construction is underway and is expected to finish in early winter 2028. The April 2026 project description referred to a 42-week construction-management schedule. Those two statements should not be treated as identical clocks: the filing described a defined work package and sequencing assumptions, while the October announcement provides the company’s current public completion target for the expansion.
The latest timetable therefore governs expectations. Between now and early winter 2028, the useful indicators will be foundation and steel-bin completion, installation of conveying and automation equipment, the transition away from QSL’s dome, and whether P&H reports a measurable change in vessel loading, rail receipts or annual grain throughput.
What the announcement does — and does not — establish
The October 15 announcement establishes that physical construction has begun after the required Québec Port Authority authorizations. The federal project record establishes the designed capacity and operating rationale. Together, they show an active, quantified logistics investment rather than an early-stage expression of intent.
They do not establish that exports will rise by 28,618 tonnes per year. A silo can turn over several times in a season, or sit partly empty when crop flows and vessel schedules are weak. Nor do the documents disclose the capital budget, financing, expected return, employment impact or guaranteed export volumes. Those omissions limit any attempt to translate added storage directly into revenue or market share.
The more defensible conclusion is operational: P&H is replacing borrowed storage with company-controlled capacity, preserving the 80,000-tonne buffer it says the terminal requires, and integrating that capacity beside the berth. For Canadian growers and grain buyers, the potential benefit is not a guaranteed increase in demand, but a more flexible eastern gateway with fewer storage hand-offs between inland delivery and ocean shipment.
Sources and methodology
Agrilinkage calculated 28,618 ÷ 80,000 = 35.8%, rounded to one decimal place. The generated illustration is contextual and does not depict the actual facility. No interviews or firsthand site observations were used.
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