A further 20 acres is set for development at the CentrePort Canada Rail Park north of Winnipeg in the Rural Municipality of Rosser, moving the project forward two years after groundbreaking in summer 2022.
Winnipeg-based Highway Motor Freight Ltd. has announced it will invest $16 million in the development of a new facility on 20 acres within the 665-acre rail park, part of the country’s largest tri-modal inland port.
Highway Motor Freight, founded in 2015, currently operates from a 7,000-square-foot facility at CentrePort Canada built in 2020.
The new transportation terminal will be 32,000 square feet and allow it to increase its fleet from 125 units to over 800 units as well as incorporate corporate operations, maintenance, warehouse space, and a wash bay. Construction will begin this summer, with completion expected in the third quarter of 2025.
“This investment marks a significant milestone in our growth journey and demonstrates our commitment to enhancing service capabilities for our clients,” Jass Dhillon, president and CEO of Highway Motor Freight said in a statement. “This expansion will further solidify our position as a leader in the transportation industry, enabling us to better meet the needs of our customers and contribute to the economic growth of Manitoba and beyond.”
The new site offers room for further expansion, including a cold storage warehouse of up to 75,000 square feet.
Ironically, the investment was announced against the backdrop of a national rail shutdown, triggered by the lockout of Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) employees belonging to Teamsters Canada Rail Conference’s Train and Engine division.
CPKC’s merger two years ago stoked rail park developer Focus Equities Inc.’s confidence in the project, with efforts to streamline long-distance rail connections with local truck routes making intermodal facilities particularly promising.
“Canadian Pacific is talking about [a] 60 per cent increase in freight volume, which is huge,” Mariash told media at the time. “The impact on Winnipeg being the terminus from the southern countries … [means] it’s going to be very, very much in demand.”
CPKC has set up a specific growth division, showcasing opportunities for its clients at CentrePort Canada and other key sites.
“It’s been a breath of fresh air,” said Chris Reiter, Senior Development Manager, CentrePort Canada Rail Park and Focus Equities. “It’s really putting our site, and other sites like it, in their network, out in the market.”
Support for the project from industry, CentrePort Canada and government has shown what’s possible when people recognize the value developments bring.
“This project had a great runway,” Reiter said. “This is why we’re seeing some great uptake in industry buying sites and expanding their business, because they see it as very welcoming of growth.”
This is in contrast to Focus Equities’ mixed-use Roundhouse project in Victoria, B.C., where the final tweaks are being made to a development agreement with the city nearly 28 years after Mariash began working on the project.
The project promises to deliver 1,870 units of housing, including affordable units, as well as a hotel and commercial space.
“We’re really hoping that they back it, because we can alleviate a lot of need and want in the affordable housing that we’re gifting,” Reiter said of Victoria. “But they make it difficult to get development done.”
The value of the employment space at CentrePort Canada Rail Park, with 150 jobs at Highway Motor Freight alone, was an easy sell for the RM of Rosser.
“They see the value in that employment,” Reiter said. “They get it, what that brings to their economy.”
The first phase of CentrePort Canada Rail Park is 193 acres. Highway Motor Freight is the second company to secure land in the park for development.
A year ago, in August 2023, Fastfrate Group acquired 25 acres for the development of a 140,000-square-foot facility representing an investment of $55 million.
Reiter said “four or five other deals” are at or nearing completion and will be announced this fall, bringing total commitments in the park to nearly 150 acres.
“I’ve had good uptake the last little while,” he said. “For the most part, people are still moving forward. We’re still seeing growth in the market.”
The latest market report from Colliers Canada pegs Winnipeg’s industrial vacancies at 2.5 per cent, down from the previous quarter but up from 2 per cent a year ago.
Winnipeg has 180,500 square feet of industrial space under construction, following on the delivery of 228,938 square feet in the first half of this year.
“Demand continues to be robust,” Colliers reported, noting that its own brokers are marketing 24 lots totaling 184 acres at Keystone Industrial Park in the heart of CentrePort, with eight presold as of June 30.
