Grainswest - Fall 2025

Fall 2025 grainswest.com 17 BY IAN DOIG • ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY CHU With good data and constructive criticism, Mark Hemmes aims to better the system Grain transport guru A well-known voice in the grain transport sector, Mark Hemmes began a more-than- two-decade stint in the rail industry as a post-university summer employee with CN Rail. Much of this time was spent in marketing, but he also worked as a train master and superintendent. In 1999, he and a co-worker left to launch the consult- ing firm Hemmes now heads. Since June 1, 2001, Quorum Corporation has been contracted to serve as an independent monitor of the Prairie grain handling and transportation system for the federal government. Edmonton-based Quorum’s six-person monitoring team consults with more than 40 key stake- holder groups throughout the year, develops weekly, monthly and annual reports and produces additional studies of rail performance. Hemmes is frequently asked to comment on grain trans- port issues. GrainsWest: How difficult is it to collect the massive amount of data required to monitor grain transport? Mark Hemmes: Railways are data-intensive businesses. When we started in 2001, we probably spent the first year figuring out the best way to capture the data, store it and make it usable for ongoing analysis. That’s why we have a huge data warehouse and an IT manager. He has done a phenomenal job. We don’t own the data; we collect it on behalf of the industry. It took a long while to gain trust, because a lot of it is very com- mercially sensitive. So, we have some very, very tight security protocols in place. GW: How variable has the efficiency and timeliness of the grain transport system been in recent years? MH: Last year was great for moving volume but there will be very high vessel demurrage bills for the last crop year. There were probably a lot of out-of-contract penalties paid because the railways didn’t get the traffic to port in a timely fashion. As volumes continue to climb, which is a good thing, we hope for greater consistency in service. A lot of grain companies say, ‘I don’t really care if it takes five or 10 days to get it there but just tell me how many days so I can plan accordingly. When you tell me it’s going to take five days and it takes 12, that’s a week’s worth of vessel demurrage I’ve got to pay.’ Last year, the average rate was about $19,000 a day. It adds up. GW: Quorum compiles 250 key metrics related to grain handling and transport. Which are the best indicators of the health of the system? MH: How many vessels are sitting out on the West Coast?