Consolidated Fastfrate, CPR sign 10-year, $400-million intermodal deal

TORONTO (Dec. 5, 2001) — The Canadian Pacific Railway and Consolidated Fastfrate have reached 10-year agreement to offer combined rail and truck service for less-than-truckload freight throughout Canada, the United States, and Mexico, using intermodal containers for the rail haul.

The contract is worth $400-million, the companies said.

“Under this contract, we will give North American shippers a level of
intermodal transportation with trains and trucks so closely linked that it will be hard to tell where one leaves off and the other begins,” said CPR president and CEO Robert Ritchie.

Consolidated Fastfrate, one of Canada’s largest less-than-truckload carriers, will provide seamless LTL service for the CPR intermodal group, while CPR will be Consolidated Fastfrate’s exclusive provider of rail-based intermodal service. The two companies said the contract will lead to a 25% increase in the value of LTL transportation business for the railway, with solid prospects for further growth.

The agreement is designed to give shippers the long-haul efficiency of a railway and the speed and convenience of a dock-to-dock carrier with just a single call and waybill. Advanced information systems allow shippers to track their goods as they move seamlessly on both CPR trains and Consolidated Fastfrate trucks.

The companies are closely tied, sharing terminal facilities. Consolidated Fastfrate performs local services for the railway, such as drayage and deconsolidation, and operates CPR’s Thunder Bay intermodal terminal on the railway’s behalf.