Canada’s forestry and legume industries say the country’s two major railways prioritized other commodities over their shipments to the Port of Vancouver late last year, costing companies millions amid surging demand for Canadian goods abroad.
Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. imposed embargoes in the Vancouver area in November and December that hurt pulp and paper mills, sawmills and exporters of legumes such as dry beans and lentils, according to industry groups.
Embargoes temporarily stop or restrict traffic related to certain customers, goods or loading points and can cause missed shipments or backed-up supply chains.
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Derek Nighbor, head of the Forest Products Association of Canada, warned the railways against playing “commodity whack-a-mole.”
“There were only a few commodities that seemed to be caught in the crosshairs,” he said Monday. “We need to figure out exactly why these embargoes and stoppages are happening.”
Three sets of embargoes affected forestry products in Vancouver and nearby Squamish, B.C., and marked the second year in a row of frequent stoppages, Nighbor said. He claimed the lost sales, rebooked routes and additional storage cost his sector $500 million in 2018.
Last week, the Canadian Transportation Agency flexed its newly enhanced authority under the 2018 Transportation Modernization Act and launched an investigation into whether rail companies are fulfilling their obligations following industry complaints, with hearings set for next week.
In an email, CN acknowledged the recent congestion on the West Coast. It pointed to harsh weather and the intricate supply network that feeds into Canada’s busiest port.
“CN acted swiftly and efficiently to serve its customers during this period and played its role in moving record volumes through Vancouver’s complex and multi-commodity supply chain,” spokesman Jonathan Abecassis said in an email.
CP cited record grain shipments and a busier port in recent months as global trade tensions work in Canada’s favour, with a Chinese tariff on U.S. soybeans and retaliatory European tariffs on U.S. corn spurring more Canadian exports.
Both railways have said they will co-operate with the investigation.
In the Vancouver area, CN moved record volumes of freight in November, December and, to date, January. The Montreal-based company invested in rail cars, track doubling and expanded rail yards — particularly between Chicago and the West Coast — to the tune of $3.5 billion over the past year, 30 per cent more than its three-year average. It has plans to keep building in 2019.
Calgary-based CP, meanwhile, aims to have 1,000 more grain cars in service by this spring, following CN’s order for 1,000 hoppers last May.
Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press
