New Di-Corp terminal will accommodate rapid growth in frac
sand demand from oil and gas industry
EDMONTON,
July 3, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - CN (TSX:
CNR) (NYSE: CNI) announced today it will start serving a new
state-of-the art frac sand terminal north of Grande Prairie, Alta., starting in
November 2013.
The new 20-acre facility being built by Di-Corp of Edmonton will have an annual throughput
capacity of 550,000 tons of frac sand and have three tracks capable
of holding 44 rail cars for unloading.
Trevor Derksen, vice-president of
marketing at Di-Corp, a leading distributor of specialty chemicals,
parts and accessories serving mining and drilling industries in
Canada and the United States, said: "We are very pleased
to be working with CN on this project in northwestern Alberta to help accommodate existing and
expected growth in frac sand demand in the Western Canadian
Sedimentary Basin.
"CN is an outstanding partner, providing cost-effective and
reliable logistics services from frac sand origin in the
Wisconsin Basin to destinations in
Western Canada."
Doug MacDonald, CN vice-president, Industrial Products,
said: "Di-Corp is an important customer of ours, and we
expect to help the company move more frac sand to energy markets.
The new transloading terminal will create additional offloading and
storage capacity at destination and also give our origin frac sand
producers in the U.S. Midwest, Manitoba and elsewhere greater supply chain
efficiencies and new market opportunities."
Frac sand is used by oil and gas industries in the hydraulic
fracturing process to hold shale fractures open and let natural gas
and oil flow out.
CN is investing significantly in its frac sand franchise. CN
announced last month it was accelerating work on the US$33 million-upgrading of a 74-mile rail line
between Wisconsin Rapids and
Blair, Wis., to increase
car-loading capacity and train velocity for growing frac sand
supply chains. In 2012, CN spent US$35
million to restore a 40-mile rail line between Ladysmith and Poskin, Wis., to serve the frac sand
market.
MacDonald said:
"Customers are at the forefront of CN's business agenda. Through
Operational and Service Excellence and continuing innovation, CN is
focused on creating value for its customers and transforming the
railway into a true supply chain enabler."
CN is a true backbone of the economy, transporting approximately
C$250 billion worth of goods annually
for a wide range of business sectors, ranging from resource
products to manufactured products to consumer goods, across a rail
network spanning Canada and
mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the
Gulf of Mexico. CN - Canadian
National Railway Company, along with its operating railway
subsidiaries -- serves the ports of Vancouver, Prince
Rupert, B.C., Montreal,
Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the metropolitan areas of
Toronto, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth,
Minn./Superior, Wis.,
Green Bay, Wis., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, 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.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain information included in this news
release is "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, including statements relating to
the growth of the frac sand market, 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 or 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 risk factors that could affect the
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
matters, or any other forward-looking statement.
SOURCE CN