University of SaskatchewanHARVEST
  • Login
  • Submit Your Work
  • About
    • About HARVEST
    • Guidelines
    • Browse
      • All of HARVEST
      • Communities & Collections
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
      • This Collection
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
    • My Account
      • Login
      JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
      View Item 
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item

      CANADA’S GRAIN HANDLING AND TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM: A GIS-BASED EVALUATION OF POLICY CHANGES

      Thumbnail
      View/Open
      GLEIM-THESIS.pdf (4.013Mb)
      Date
      2014-11-14
      Author
      Gleim, Savannah
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Masters
      Metadata
      Show full item record
      Abstract
      Western Canada is in a post Canadian Wheat Board single-desk market, in which grain handlers face policy, allocation, and logistical changes to the transportation of grains. This research looks at the rails transportation problem for allocating wheat from Prairie to port position, offering a new allocation system that fits the evolving environment of Western Canada’s grain market. Optimization and analysis of the transport of wheat by railroads is performed using geographic information system software as well as spatial and historical data. The studied transportation problem searches to minimize the costs of time rather than look purely at locational costs or closest proximity to port. Through optimization three major bottlenecks are found to constrain the transportation problem; 1) an allocation preference towards Thunder Bay and Vancouver ports, 2) small capacity train inefficiency, and 3) a mismatched distribution of supply and demand between the Class 1 railway firms. Through analysis of counterfactual policies and a scaled sensitivity analysis of the transportation problem, the grains transport system of railroads is found to be dynamic and time efficient; specifically when utilizing larger train capacities, offering open access to rail, and under times of increased availability of supplies. Even under the current circumstances of reduced grain movement and inefficiencies, there are policies and logistics that can be implemented to offer grain handlers in Western Canada with the transportation needed to fulfill their export demands.
      Degree
      Master of Science (M.Sc.)
      Department
      Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering
      Program
      Agricultural Economics
      Supervisor
      Nolan, James F.
      Committee
      Schoney, Richard A.; Kerr, William A.
      Copyright Date
      October 2014
      URI
      http://hdl.handle.net/10388/ETD-2014-10-1795
      Subject
      grain handling
      logistics
      optimization
      transportation problem
      GIS
      VRP
      Collections
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      University of Saskatchewan

      University Library

      © University of Saskatchewan
      Contact Us | Disclaimer | Privacy