CN current to grain car order demand in Western Canada
May 02 2018 - 12:45PM
CN (TSX:CNR) (NYSE:CNI) said today it has met all grain orders in
Western Canada for the third straight week, is current to demand
and is seeking additional export orders from grain companies.
“The decisive action we took in March to deploy
more crews and locomotives has led to dramatic improvements in the
movement of Western Canadian grain,” said Doug MacDonald, vice
president of bulk at CN. “We’ve met all of our car orders for the
last three weeks and spotted more than 5,500 cars every week since
early March. Sustained sequential improvement across our network in
the last two months is enabling us to solicit more orders from
grain companies.”
Spotted car progress: monthly averages
up significantly In February, CN averaged 4,129 cars a
week. Since then, CN’s spotted numbers have increased sequentially
to average more than 6,100 cars per week in April:
- March 4 to 10: 5,953 cars
spotted
- March 11 to 17: 5,742 cars spotted
- March 18 to 24: 5,586 cars spotted
- March 25 to 31: 5,744 cars spotted
March Weekly Average: 5,756 cars
spotted
- April 1 to 7: 5,786 cars
spotted
- April 8 to 14: 6,038 cars
spotted
- April 15 to 21: 6,383 cars spotted
- April 22 to 28: 6,424 cars spotted
April Weekly Average: 6,158 cars
spotted
Weekly demand for this week (April 29 to May 5)
is below 5,000 cars and CN is temporarily parking roughly 1,200
hopper cars. Those cars will be available for any increase in
orders moving forward. Removing excess rail car fleet from the
network will improve fluidity for all markets.
Investing for the long haul: people,
equipment and infrastructureAs part of CN’s record C$3.4
billion capital program in 2018, the company is investing in new
trade-enabling infrastructure and equipment. In addition to 350 new
box cars and 350 new lumber rail cars ordered for this year, CN
expects in June to take delivery of the first of 60 new GE
locomotives due in service in 2018.
This spring, CN has started its largest-ever
infrastructure investment program, which includes C$400 million to
build new track and yard capacity to handle increased traffic
across CN’s Western Region, and to Chicago. The infrastructure
program includes new siding and double track projects benefiting
grain, forest products, intermodal, coal and potash business.
After adding hundreds of train conductors to the
field so far this year, CN continues to hire with a particular
focus on crews in Western Canada. Approximately 1,250 more
qualified train conductors will be in the field before the next
winter, compared to the number of conductors available before last
winter.
CN is a true backbone of the economy whose team
of approximately 25,000 railroaders transports more than C$250
billion worth of goods annually for a wide range of business
sectors, ranging from resource products to manufactured products to
consumer goods, across a rail network of approximately 20,000
route-miles spanning Canada and mid-America. CN – Canadian National
Railway Company, along with its operating railway subsidiaries –
serves the cities and ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C.,
Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the
metropolitan areas of Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary,
Chicago, Memphis, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., and
Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America.
For more information about CN, visit the Company’s website at
www.cn.ca.
CN
Contacts: |
|
Media |
Investors |
Patrick Waldron |
Paul Butcher |
Senior Manager |
Vice-President |
Media Relations |
Investor Relations |
(514) 399-8033 |
(514)
399-0052 |
Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024