Cycle times for hopper cars from mine to destination and return
cut by approximately 25 per cent
SASKATOON, May 3 /PRNewswire/ - CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE:CNI)
said its Scheduled Potash Service has increased supply chain
efficiencies for producers in Western
Canada and provided them quicker access to markets.
CN's Scheduled Potash Service is focused on an end-to-end
management of the supply chain in collaboration with customers. To
drive new efficiencies, CN innovated with a tool giving sales and
operations personnel clear visibility to customer orders for
planning rail assets and scheduling shipments. With this approach,
CN is working closely with its customers to minimize delays,
expedite shipments, and provide supply chain balance between
placing empties and picking up loads.
CN also instituted a new potash fleet management team to work
with customers to improve distribution of empty private hopper cars
to mines for reloading. This initiative, with locomotives cycling
between CN's potash hub in Winnipeg and mines in Saskatchewan, has reduced switching
requirements and car dwell times at terminals. As a result, CN has
significantly reduced car cycles from mine to destination and
return.
Jean-Jacques Ruest, executive
vice-president and chief marketing officer of CN, said: "CN's
Scheduled Potash Service is the next chapter in our supply chain
collaboration agenda, mirroring our Scheduled Grain Service and our
comprehensive management of coal movements from Western Canadian
mines to export terminals.
"By scheduling potash service, we have reduced car cycle times
for privately owned hoppers from mine to destination and return to
mine for loading by approximately 25 per cent - a huge gain in
efficiency for both CN and our customers. This improvement helps
our potash customers get to market faster and move more bulk
product. CN has also benefited from the additional capacity
provided by these efficiency gains."
Bob Felgenhauer, vice-president,
transportation and distribution, of PotashCorp, said: "CN's
Scheduled Potash Service has brought a new level of supply chain
efficiency to our operations, allowing us to more reliably serve
our customers. This is very important to us. Looking ahead, CN will
play a vital role in our logistics as we continue to grow our
business."
CN is a significant player in the Canadian rail market for
fertilizers, with production centred primarily in Western Canada. CN serves, or has access to,
all major potash mines in Saskatchewan. The majority of Canadian potash
moves by rail to markets in the United
States or to ports for export to overseas markets.
Ruest said: "CN's Scheduled Potash Service is an example of
commercially developed supply chain innovation that benefits
Canadian producers. CN is fully committed to this agenda of
market-driven service gains - it's the right way to do business and
the right way to move Canada
forward in the global economy."
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain information included in this news release constitutes
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United
States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and under
Canadian securities laws. CN cautions that, by their nature, these
forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and
assumptions. The Company cautions that its assumptions may not
materialize and that current economic conditions render such
assumptions, although reasonable at the time they were made,
subject to greater uncertainty. Such forward-looking statements are
not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual
results of performance of the Company or the rail industry to be
materially different from the outlook or any future results or
performance implied by such statements. Important factors that
could affect the above forward-looking statements include, but are
not limited to, the effects of general economic and business
conditions, industry competition, inflation, currency and interest
rate fluctuations, changes in fuel prices, legislative and/or
regulatory developments, compliance with environmental laws and
regulations, actions by regulators, various events which could
disrupt operations, including natural events such as severe
weather, droughts, floods and earthquakes, labor negotiations and
disruptions, environmental claims, uncertainties of investigations,
proceedings or other types of claims and litigation, risks and
liabilities arising from derailments, and other risks detailed from
time to time in reports filed by CN with securities regulators in
Canada and the United States. Reference should be made to
"Management's Discussion and Analysis" in CN's annual and interim
reports, Annual Information Form and Form 40-F filed with Canadian
and U.S. securities regulators, available on CN's website, for a
summary of major risks.
CN assumes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking
statements to reflect future events, changes in circumstances, or
changes in beliefs, unless required by applicable Canadian
securities laws. In the event CN does update any forward-looking
statement, no inference should be made that CN will make additional
updates with respect to that statement, related maters, or any
other forward-looking statement.
CN - Canadian National Railway Company and its operating railway
subsidiaries - spans Canada and
mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the
Gulf of Mexico, serving the ports
of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal, Halifax, New
Orleans, and Mobile, Ala.,
and the key metropolitan areas of Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth,
Minn./Superior, Wis.,
Green Bay, Wis., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, St.
Louis, and Jackson, Miss.,
with connections to all points in North
America. For more information on CN, visit the company's
website at www.cn.ca.
Headquartered in Saskatchewan,
Canada, Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (PotashCorp)
is the world's largest fertilizer company by capacity, producing
the three primary crop nutrients - potash, phosphate and nitrogen.
With five potash operations in Saskatchewan, and one in New Brunswick, it is responsible for about 20
per cent of global capacity and is the world's leading potash
producer. Its operations and business interests span seven
countries, making PotashCorp an international enterprise and a key
player in meeting the growing challenge of feeding the world.
SOURCE CN