The light at the end of the western grain-shipping tunnel turned out to be a slow, short, understaffed train.
A strike by 2,800 Canadian National Railway workers, a tough winter and a sluggish response to customer complaints by one railway are plaguing grain movement in the West this year, according to the Canadian Wheat Board.
The strike that began Feb. 10 by United Transportation Union conductors and yard switchers is the latest problem in the 2006-07 grain shipping year.
The wheat board said the cost of demurrage on the British Columbia coast is now more than $300,000 per day and despite Canadian Pacific Railway being nearly caught up with its grain backlog, the problem is worsening.
Read Also
Land crash warning rejected
A technical analyst believes that Saskatchewan land values could be due for a correction, but land owners and FCC say supply/demand fundamentals drive land prices – not mathematical models
“Both railways were facing a (backlog) due to storms in the Rocky Mountains and in the Lower Mainland … CP should be caught up next week. CN isn’t making much progress,” said CWB spokesperson Maureen Fitzhenry.
CN said the January cold snap has caused the company to shorten its trains due to loss of air pressure in braking systems and to reduce speed limits on some tracks.
Jim Feeny of CN said shorter trains, derailments and line closures due to avalanches and storms have meant fewer rail unloads on the coast.
Sinclair Harrison of the Farmer Rail Car Coalition said CN is failing to use 600 or more of its 6,000 available federal government grain hopper cars, and that may be adding to an 11 percent decline in port unloads compared to the same period last year.
Feeny said pressing all of those cars into service right now would only clog the available sidings and switching yards, creating more delays.
Another CN official, Mark Hallman, said Feb. 12 that the strike hadn’t hampered trains so far and the company is relying on management to keep the trains staffed.
Fitzhenry said the wheat board is writing to federal transportation minister Lawrence Cannon asking that the government end the strike.
She said beyond the demurrage fees, the Canadian grain industry could lose its reputation for reliability with international buyers.
CN has asked the federal labour relations board to declare the strike illegal. The railway cites an internal constitutional issue between the Canadian union and its American parent as the reason.
The strike was not authorized by the union’s international leadership but Glenn King of the UTU in North Bay Ont., said the strike was given a 96.5 percent mandate by members. His union wasn’t worried the labour board would rule against it in the Feb. 13 hearing.
As of Feb. 12, there were 14 grain ships collecting demurrage in Vancouver and seven in Prince Rupert. Eleven of those were waiting for board grains.
Fitzhenry said the board has been pushing CN to improve unloads, but so far the port terminals remain underused this year.
She said despite rough weather the board believes CN isn’t delivering all of the service that it might in a year when the CWB has a marketing plan for 19 million tonnes of grain.
