REGINA – Sending a load of grain through the U.S. rail and port system would “tweak the nose of the Canadian system,” say some southwestern Saskatchewan grain producers.
“We have two choices,” said Leader mayor Marlyn Clary about southern Saskatchewan’s reliance on CPRail.
“We can sit on our ass and look at the problem and mull it over and complain about it to the politicians, or we can get off our fat butts and do something about it.”
Doing something about it means setting up a shipment of grain through the U.S. system large enough that CP Rail would have to notice, said Clary.
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Recently the South-West Regional Transportation Council, which Clary sits on, met with Burlington Northern Railroad officials to talk about using their system to ship grain to the West Coast. It is setting up a meeting with the Cargill grain company and the Canadian Wheat Board to see if a large shipment through the U.S. can be tried, Clary said.
While the American grain transportation system is generally cheaper in terms of elevator costs and port handling charges, its rail costs are more expensive, some studies have shown. But Clary said if Canadian producers can ship enough grain for the four or five 100-car trains needed to fill a ship, they could get a discount rate from the railway.
“If we put out a call and said we needed 50 30-wheelers to take 140 trips south of the line over a period of about four days, we could get them,” said Clary.
Any export shipments sent through the American system would have to be approved by the Canadian Wheat Board, something board commissioner Richard Klassen said is possible, but only if it means more money for Canadian farmers.
“If there was a difference in cost we would fully explore the U.S. route,” he said. But he added that the board would stick with the Canadian system for all shipments if it could at least match the overall cost of the American.
Burlington Northern representative Ian Townsend said he and another official met with the southwest council to outline how the American rail system operates. He said the possibility of using their railway was discussed: “We’re in business to make money and we don’t care really where these products really come from.”
But he added the Canadian grain delivery system “seems to be in a state of flux right now. It’s probably going to have to shake itself out before we can really realize what can or can’t be done.”
Fair treatment at home
Limerick mayor Rodger Stefan said being able to use the American system is vital to southern producers so they get fair treatment from CP Rail.
“Competition is the only thing that’s going to keep our rates competitive and keep our branch lines alive,” he said.
But CP Rail spokesman Don Bower said the company does not plan any “wholesale abandonment” of lines. There will be fewer branch lines in the future, but many will remain, he said.
“We think (farmers) have a choice as well. There is a need for us to be as competitive to the degree that we logically can be,” Bower said.
CP Rail takes seriously the challenge of American railways.
“Any decrease in business isn’t something positive from our perspective. We’re very much in the grain transportation business and want to be. In any marketplace, when you challenge a supplier by virtue of looking at a competitive supplier, that is something to be listened to.”
