With a larger grain harvest expected this year, our customers and others are concerned about rail capacity at the Port of Vancouver. Last year’s harvest saw ample service disruptions and delays, due to fires, flooding, and other issues. There were also capacity issues caused by insufficient train crews, and operating disruptions that affected all commodities.
This week, The Financial Post published an article describing railway grain customers’ concerns about sufficient capacity to move the required grain harvest, while maintaining movement of other commodities. Although CP claims they show “no preference to coal or, for that matter, any specific commodity,” our data routinely indicates strong coal and intermodal movements, and comparatively weaker grain movements. This week, however, rail disruptions interrupted all commodity movements.