Superior Grain Elevator

Superior Grain Elevator was located at Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada’s third busiest port. With 14 giant grain elevators, Superior was able to load ships constantly sending grain to all parts of Eastern Canada and the globe. The ships were contracted for by agents who lined up the required tonnage of shipping capacity to fulfill the various contracts held with Superior. Although the agents tried to arrange for ships to arrive at Thunder Bay in a steady stream, the vagaries of lockage transfer times in the Seaway resulted in quite variable arrival times, at times forcing arriving ships to anchor when both wharfs were busy. This resulted in SGE having to incur demurrage charges at a rate of $2000 per day. Mike Armstrong, manager of port facilities for SGE, had just learned that the Canadian Government had negotiated a 5-year contract with Poland, and that Superior had been allocated some of the shipments. However, the two wharfs Superior currently had might not be enough to carry out the contract efficiently, and building a third wharf was being considered. The third wharf was estimated to cost $1,500,000. Superior Grain Elevator needs to consider the pros and cons of building a third wharf and decide if the benefits & savings will offset the cost of the investment.

After careful consideration and analysis, using the ROI, NPV, FV formulas and @Risk, we do not recommend for SGE to build a third wharf. Even though the construction of the third wharf will provide the company a mean of savings of $230,115 per season, or $1,150,575 in five years, it does not offset the cost of building the new wharf ($1,500,000).