How Côte‑Sainte‑Catherine Distribution Centre Helps Producers

In peak seasons, the Côte-Sainte-Catherine Distribution Centre buzzes with customers, employees, suppliers, ships, and railcars. It’s a place of hard work and high spirits, especially in spring and fall, when it operates at full capacity to serve local farms and cooperatives.

Each year, the distribution centre receives a dozen ships and hundreds of railcars loaded with urea, ammonium sulphate, red potash, and other inputs. These are then distributed to cooperatives, which supply farms. The distribution centre mainly serves Greater Montréal and parts of Ontario.

“We’re very busy in spring and fall,” says Martine Sweeney, the distribution centre’s coordinator. “In spring, I often joke that I see the guys in the yard more than I see my own boyfriend!”

How producers get the inputs they need in time?

During the season when inputs are applied to fields, the distribution centre is open from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., seven days a week. “When I get here in the morning, there’s already more than 30 trucks lined up around the corner,” says Martine.

Next comes what Martine calls “a big party”: She and site manager Patricia Lavoie spend the day on the ground directing everything. Annie Lacroix, the scale supervisor, greets truckers when they arrive and makes sure everything is in order when they leave. In the yard, several wheel loaders get to work loading orders.

In the high seasons, the small team serves an average of 175 trucks a day.

“I love it! We have a lot of fun, but when it’s over, we’re like, ‘Phew!’” Martine says.

Fortunately, summer is a quieter time for the distribution centre. The team takes advantage of the downtime to perform building and equipment maintenance and catch up on paperwork, and many employees take a well-earned vacation.

Rising to the challenge

The Côte-Sainte-Catherine Distribution Centre has a lot to be proud of recently. Last year, the team loaded railcars bound for Western Canada with monoammonium phosphate (MAP), a concentrated mineral fertilizer high in phosphorus and nitrogen. “We had never done this type of loading before. We had to adapt and be resourceful,” says Martine.

More recently, the distribution centre obtained Green Alliance certification in recognition of its environmentally conscious practices.

In order to overcome challenges like these, the distribution centre team has had to stick together. “We help each other a lot,” Martine says. “Our line of work requires a lot of trust and team spirit.” Just like bees in a hive.

At a glance

The distribution centre opened in 1985 in the industrial area of Sainte-Catherine, on Montréal’s South Shore. The site is run by eight permanent employees and brings in valued seasonal workers for the spring and fall. In all, the distribution centre receives:

• 10 ships per year

• 175 trucks per day (high season)

• 425 railcars per year