By Sheri Monk

It was at the end of 1995 when Great Sandhills Terminal (GST) was incorporated. Yet at that time, the incorporation was a technical move, the facility and the future promise it offered was still merely a vision of what was yet to come.
“They started in ‘96 and actually formed a partnership with Sask Wheat Pool at that time,” explained GST general manager Jim Major. “So local investors invested in 52 per cent of the company, Sask Pool invested in 48 per cent.”
Considering the size and scope of the project, it progressed rapidly. By June 1, the behemoth structure located a stone’s throw east of Leader was fully operational. The vision, the work and the sweat culminated in a 20,000 tonne concrete facility equipped with commercial cleaners and capable of loading 56 grain cars in one day. In its initial year, the company employed 15 people.
After the building and its business were realized, GST cut their teeth in the corporate world amid a trial of (figurative) fire.
“We had a lot of tough years to start out with. When the terminal was constructed, there were some issues with the building and it actually started to tilt a bit,” said Major.
At the time, it must have been a tough blow to contend with, but the final result proved to benefit local investors. Sask Wheat Pool was also the general contractor for the building and negotiations for compensation over the tilt ensued. In 2004, GST shareholders became 100 per cent shareholders in the company as a result.
The tilt forced the company to intelligently improvise. Designed to hold 20,000 tonnes, the building can only hold 13,000 because of the tilt. But such an obstacle was easily surmounted by GST. A bin was constructed at the terminal to make up most of the difference in capacity.
“That was a significant project for us. It’s about a 6,500-tonne bin,” said Major.
And the possibility of repairing the tilt is currently being explored.
“We feel it is (financially feasible). We’re just waiting for some confirmation from different engineers to look at the opportunity to correct it.”
In 2002, GST purchased Leader’s wood grain elevator, which is used for custom seed cleaning as well as purchasing and shipping barley.
In January of 2006, GST became a minority interest holder of GNP Transportation and Logistics, a company that provides logistics services both internally and externally.
“It got to the point where we couldn’t manage all our transportation requirements. GST couldn’t afford to form a transportation company just for itself,” said Major.
So, North West Terminal (Unity) and Prairie West Terminal (Plenty) partnered with GST to form GNP Transportation.
“It’s been really good for us. They’re 100 per cent producer-owned,” said Major, adding there are only about four totally independently-owned terminals currently in Saskatchewan.
Perhaps one of the most exciting GST developments was in June of 2007 when the company became an invested parter in the ownership of Alliance Grain Terminal at the Port of Vancouver, a project Major had started to work on in 2004. The investment has performed exceptionally well for the GST, adding predictable income stability for the overall health of the terminal and its local shareholders.
GST’s next year was also an exciting one as the vision of Great Sandhills Railway started to grow. In July of 2008, a Class B share offering was issued to raise equity for investment in the railway. The move was preemptive – CP had certain volume quotas the terminal was required to meet over a multi-year average. Due to the company’s initial rough couple of years, there was concern CP would pull the plug on the shortline, which would leave the terminal stranded.
“We had a couple of years of drought where we were unable to attain that tonnage and CP was getting pretty antsy,” said Major. “And the railways, in reality want to get off all the branch lines and they just want to pull freight on the main lines. It was getting down to the point where we either had to look at addressing it legally and we couldn’t afford that because we don’t have pockets like the railways or try to work with them and form a shortline or work with somebody to take over the shortline.”
GST may have spearheaded the effort, but it is not the railway’s only shareholder – when Great Sandhills Railway began operation on March 13, 2009, the train represented future security and another win for both GST and local producers. Communities all along the shortline recognized the economic importance of the project and also invested in it.
In December of last year, GST and Great Sandhills Railway celebrated another event – a 122-car run, the first run over 100 cars.
In February of 2009, GST in partnership with six other companies formed the Alliance Seed Corporation. With its head office located in Winnipeg, operations are still new, but hold promise and will further diversify GST’s solid business stance.
Today, GST will host its annual general meeting of shareholders at 2:30 p.m. at the Leader Community Hall and Major hopes it will be well-attended in light of the 10-year milestone.
Major says much of GST’s success can be attributed to a company-wide adherence to the old adage that the customer comes first. The terminal currently employs 16 people.
A formal (and fun) future celebration of the anniversary is being planned for later this year. And if the first 10 are any indication, GST will continue to persevere, learn and grow throughout the next decade.