CN Forced to Shut Down Parts of Network Due to Blockades
February 11 2020 - 1:30PM
CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) announced that it will be forced to shut
down significant parts of its Canadian network imminently unless
the blockades on its rail lines are removed.
A public statement from the individuals blocking
the lines explained that their actions are in solidarity with the
pipeline opposition movement and are unrelated to CN's activities.
The blockades near Belleville, ON, on CN’s only eastern link
between Western Canada and Eastern Canada and between Eastern
Canada and the US Mid-West and on CN’s northern mainline in B.C.
between Prince George and Prince Rupert, are impacting all
Canadians’ ability to move goods and enable trade. There are
currently no movements of any trains, freight or passenger, at both
those locations. Hundreds of trains have been canceled since the
blockades began five days ago. The impact is also being felt beyond
Canada’s borders and is harming the country’s reputation as a
stable and viable supply chain partner.
“It’s not just passenger trains that are
impacted by these blockades, it’s all Canadian supply-chains” said
JJ Ruest, president and chief executive officer at CN. “We are
currently parking trains across our network, but due to limited
available space for such, CN will have no choice but to temporarily
discontinue service in key corridors unless the blockades come to
an end.
“Intermodal containers carrying perishable goods
including food and consumer items, Canadian grain, deicing fluid at
airports, construction materials, propane to Quebec and Atlantic
Canada, natural resources creating rural jobs across Canada such as
lumber, aluminum, coal and propane; all of these commodities are
already impacted and will see their movements even more diminished.
Factories and mines will be soon faced with very difficult
decisions. The Port of Prince Rupert is effectively already
shutdown. The Ports of Montreal and Halifax are also already
feeling the impact of these blockades which will have a trickledown
effect on consumer goods in the next few weeks,” added Ruest.
“We have obtained court injunctions for both
locations and we are working with local enforcement agencies to
enforce the orders. We have also engaged with customers, industry
associations as well as officials in Ottawa and across Canada to
explain to them the consequences and material impact that shutting
down the railroad will have on their constituents,” concluded
Ruest.
CN is a true backbone of the economy
transporting 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.
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