Montreal: A key part in Canada’s claims to be the shippers' destination to shift boxes inland from Asia and Europe is in its railway system, CN, which moves containers inland fast, in an uncluttered manner and at competitive prices.
Claude Mongeau, CN’s president and ceo, is well aware of the competition his fellow Canadians face at the ports versus their peers in the US, but he welcomes the competition and thinks Canada has better options, not least thanks to the rail options.
“CN brings many unique opportunities to the table, including fast transit times, large geographical reach, a focus on environmental sustainability, and labour force stability,” Mongeau says.
Part of the reason for the fast transit times is the comprehensive agreements CN has in place with both East Coast and West Coast ports to minimize dwell to on-rail transit.
“This in turn allows the Port of Vancouver to leverage their deepsea capabilities and their closer proximity to Asia as compared to Los Angeles/Long Beach,” says Mongeau.
CN also offers extensive geographical reach throughout North America, and especially into the US Midwest.
“We are actually the only single-line West Coast railway offering service into Detroit and Indianapolis,” Mongeau observes.
In addition to this, environmental sustainability is a part of its rail network.
“We have the lowest grades of all Class 1s coming to the US Mid-west, which means that we actually require 15% less fuel to move the same tonnage the same distance than any other major railroad,” Mongeau maintains.
The other key point the rail man is key to highlight is labour stability which has been a big topic in the last year.
“For both CN and the Port of Vancouver, it has and will not be an issue, allowing us to give customers assurance of uninterrupted flow of their goods,” he says.
It is also important to note that CN’s newest gateway to the heartland of North America, the Port of Prince Rupert, has both the shortest nautical miles to Asia, and significant capacity for expansion.
It is not just the West Coast that is important to CN’s box moving ambitions. With container lines now calling in ever greater volumes to the US East Coast from Asia via the Suez Canal as a move to soak up capacity, CN continues to work with partners at the Port of Halifax and Montreal.
“Our viewpoint as a company is to always step back and look at total transit time as opposed to just the rail piece, since we know that that is how our customers look at it,” explains Mongeau. “We recognize the importance of working closely with ports and terminal operators, knowing that we are really one team, all collaborating for the good of the market and the good of our customers. In such, we additionally focus on providing matchback opportunities for exports, an innovative way to keep the supply chain fluid and cost efficient.”
Mongeau became head of CN at the start of 2010, having been with the company since 1994. [01/08/13]
