Grain shipments exceed those CN promised Ottawa prior to federal government's
order-in-council stipulating minimum volumes
MONTREAL,
May 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ - CN (TSX:
CNR) (NYSE: CNI) said today its transportation of Western Canadian
grain in the 2013-2014 crop year has now surpassed its prior
historical record and exceeds what it promised the Canadian
government in mid-February, a full month before the government's
order-in-council took effect requiring railways to move specific
volumes.
CN's hopper car deliveries to Western Canadian
grain elevators in May are expected to average 5,500 carloads per
week -- a full 50 per cent more than the eight-year historical
average, and 38 per cent more than the best-May ever.
Claude Mongeau,
president and chief executive of CN, said: "I wrote to Agriculture
Minister Gerry Ritz in February when
emotions started to boil in the midst of the brutal polar vortex
that hobbled the operations of all railroads. This was a month
before Ottawa's order-in-council
was announced, and I promised the minister that CN would move 4,500
carloads of grain per week as soon as extreme cold weather abated,
rising to 5,500 cars per week after the Port of Thunder Bay opened for business.
"We have done exactly what we promised, without
the need for regulatory intervention. In fact, the strength of our
grain transportation performance is unprecedented. With our rapid
rebound since March, and our solid performance last fall before
winter took a toll on operations, we are on course to break all
records for Canadian grain. Crop year-to-date, CN's grain volumes
are four per cent better than its previous best and 13 per cent
above average performance. And we would have been closer to 10 per
cent above our prior record if it hadn't been for grain companies
failing to use available rail capacity last August and early
September when it was becoming clear that Canadian grain growers
would harvest a huge crop."
Mongeau said CN is now aiming to move close to
6,000 hopper cars of grain weekly during this summer with its
recently-introduced customer fleet integration plan, and the
deployment in Canada of its
temporarily surplus fleet of hopper cars used in U.S. service
during the next three months.
"Assuming grain elevator companies are capable
of consistently unloading this increased volume, these plans should
propel us into even greater record territory by the end of the
crop-year in early August. With solid supply chain collaboration,
we expect to see a crop carry-over of grain in the range of 18
million tonnes, which would be only about six million tonnes above
the average despite a massive 100-year crop."
Agriculture Canada is also projecting a carry-over of
grain of 18.5 million tonnes and calling for a crop of about 62
million tonnes next year, slightly above trend-line average and
well below 76 million tonnes in the current crop-year. If these
forecasts prove to be accurate, this will lead to another year with
high stocks of grain to move in 2014/15.
Mongeau concluded: "True supply chain
collaboration and normal commercial alignment -- not ill-advised
and unwarranted regulation as contemplated by the federal
government -- is what we need to help deliver this significant
volume efficiently to the benefit of Canada's grain-growing sector."
CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) 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.
CN - Canadian National Railway Company, along with its operating
railway subsidiaries -- serves the cities and ports of Vancouver, Prince
Rupert, B.C., Montreal,
Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the metropolitan areas of
Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary, Chicago, Memphis, Detroit, Duluth,
Minn./Superior, Wis., 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 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