General

The past two winters, and especially last winter were exceptionally heavy, with record setting individual storms and the entire season in Southern Ontario. But the heavy winter wasn’t isolated to our area, and in fact had big impacts on most of the eastern half of the continent. The heavy winters in this huge geographical area meant more salt applications in an attempt to keep surfaces safe for staff, customers, tenants and owners. That led to the salt shortages we experienced. In my 45 years in the industry, I’ve never seen municipalities run out of salt, but that happened in a number of municipalities, and almost every salt user had to reduce applications to stretch limited supply, and virtually all stockpiles were completely depleted by the end of the season. To add pressure, large municipalities, the MTO and other government entities have increased their orders for the upcoming season, furthering pressure on the market.

Where we stand now is a somewhat precarious position. Stockpiles have not, and can not be completely replenished in a single year, so we start the season in a depletion situation. Local mines are working around the clock (The mine in Goderich Ontario is the largest in the world!), and some suppliers bringing in quantities of salt from Egypt, Morrocco and Chile. However, even these efforts will not lead to enough supply if we experience another heavy winter.

As a natural result of supply and demand, the price of salt has jumped 20-45% over last year’s prices at the same point. Another heavy winter will lead to another shortage situation, with prices spiking sharply and users fighting over a dwindling supply.

At MPS, we routinely stockpile supplies before the season begins. This business plan led to us being one of the few companies not to use a sand/salt mix, or run out completely last year. We will be doing that again this season with an even larger quantity as we have expanded our storage area. This will protect our customers from both supply shortages and price spikes.

As you look at procuring your snow services this season, be certain to ask some very important questions:

• Where are you sourcing your de-icing material? How reliable is that provider?
• Are supplies and prices guaranteed?
• Are you storing and controlling your own supply?
• What will happen if there are industry shortages again?

If you aren’t getting the answers that will allow you to sleep on a snowy, February night, please reach out. We’ll be happy to discuss the situation, and if interested, provide a quote.