Railways to blame for container backlog and tight capacity: CIFFA

MONTREAL, (Oct. 12, 2004) — The director of the Canadian International Freight Forwarders Association says port congestion is a worldwide phenomenon, with Canadian terminals experiencing some of the worst strain.

George Kuhn points the finger at Canada’s two railways, Canadian National and Canadian Pacific, for much of the port congestion. He told Canadian Press that the railroads are operating with a 19th century mentality by not being able to clear immense traffic and container buildup, or provide enough rolling capacity.

But CN spokesperson Mark Hallman told the news agency that the problems are more complex, and all parties — steamship companies, forwarders, ports, and terminals — play a role.

The ports of Montreal and Vancouver admit they lack capacity to keep up with growth of containers flooding especially the Pacific coast from China.

Several strikes involving both the railways and the ports have also contributed to a backlog earlier this year.

In April, 800 B.C. tug and barge operators went on strike at various B.C. ports, stalling the transport of some of 80 per cent of the province’s niche goods. Containers for export piled up on the docks for a week, while in-bound cargo was being diverted to the Port of Seattle.

Just two months earlier, 5,000 CN technicians, clerical staff, and intermodal yard workers, went on strike — causing massive disruption across the rail line, and sending shippers scrambling for alternate transport modes.

In the short term Kuhn said the system would work better if the different transportation modes worked co-operatively, and for the railways to do more track sharing, as they do now, and share equipment. But in the future, there will have to be major investments for larger ports and inland terminals and double-track railway lines, he says.

— with files from Canadian Press