Rupert Container Port The Place to Be says CN Boss
By 250 News
Thursday, April 20, 2006 04:15 PM
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The President and Chief Executive Officer of CN says his company is very bullish about the Prince Rupert container port. Hunter Harrison says “Every customer of the world has talked to us about Prince Rupert. I think we will be sold out very quickly.” He went on to say “Prince Rupert is the place that people will want to be in BC.”
The company President says the cranes have been ordered for the container port in Prince Rupert, “Start up is expected in October 2007, but we don’t expect major results until 2008.” Harrison was speaking at a news conference being held in Memphis Tennessee where he says CN’s first Board meeting out of Canada will take place.
CN posted a strong first quarter which Hunter Harrison says was done in large measure by the strong growth of the company in western Canada. “We are unable to meet the demands of the strong woods industry in western Canada.”
CN Financial Officer, Claude Mongeau says “We’re expecting the strong growth in the woods industry to continue.” According to the company’s latest figures, pulp and paper has showed a slow down which is indicative all across Canada. Automotive transport also showed a 12% growth due mostly to strong import volumes of vehicles into Canada and the US.
Harrison says import traffic into Vancouver is up about 25%, while labor costs were down about 1% making for a good bottom line which showed an increase of 27% over the same quarter last year.
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Its interesting that they cannot meet the demands of a strong wood market in Western Canada. Maybe if they hadnt retired so many rail cars, and ripped up so much track to relay on the Illinois Central Railway, and hadnt cut their staff to the bone, and werent so stingy on maintenance they could have looked after Western Canada. One thing that the CN is good at is PR and Hype, however when it comes to customer service they are sadly lacking. Ask any lumber or pulp and paper shipper in Western Canada if you want the real lowdown on this second rate railway.