News

Canadian railroad work stoppage ends

The employees of the Canadian Pacific Railway are back on the job.  Mike Steenhoek with the Soy Transportation Coalition tells Brownfield it’s good news for farmers because it allows cross-border shipments to occur. “Something like potash which is produced in Canada couldn’t make its way into the United States. A lot of soybeans and a lot of grain that’s produced in the United States, it will cross the border and eventually be exported off the Canadian west coast. That was impacted by the shutdown as well.”

Steenhoek says for farmers and agribusinesses, “There’s a real sense of relief and while the stoppage was quite brief, only two days, what was really concerning was the lack of predictability.”

Steenhoek says origination points like grain elevators were questioning if they had to find other means of transportation that might be more expensive and less reliable. “Having predictable, reliable transportation options is really important, to have a product be able to get from point A to point B as planned.”

CP Rail announced early Tuesday they have reached an agreement with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference to bring in an arbitrator to help resolve disagreements in their contract negotiations. 

CP Rail is one of two Canadian trans-continental railroads and has extensive connections in the U.S., especially since their recent acquisition of Kansas City Southern.  They also own the Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern Railroad and the Iowa, Chicago, and Eastern Railroad, which serve a large number of rural midwestern communities.

CP Rail transports a large volume of commodities for export and is also a major transporter for potash from Saskatchewan to the U.S.