RailState, the rail industry’s only provider of real-time rail network visibility, independently tracks all freight rail movements across Canada, and as such, is uniquely positioned to observe the initial impacts on rail from the strike at the B.C. ports.
The dockworkers’ strike at the western ports began on July 1 and we have seen a fast and significant impact on freight rail volume out of the ports. Container volume out of the ports quickly dropped and there are now no 20 and 40 foot imported containers moving from port terminals (remaining container traffic is domestic).
With negotiations breaking down on Tuesday and government intervention potentially delayed due to the recess in Parliament, the strike could continue and have an extended impact on rail movements as shippers adjust plans and mounting backups need to be resolved.
“The impact of this strike will be felt for far longer than the strike lasts. We’ll be facing issues for weeks or months to come with clearing backlogs. Some people are out of luck – there’s only so much you can do if your shipment is sitting at the port today,” said John Schmitter, Chief Commercial Officer at RailState. “And shippers face tough choices right now about their next shipment: do they wait, do they go to other Canadian ports, go cross border, change modes (if possible)? They need visibility into the rail network to make the best decisions and those insights about what they can expect across the network is what we’re providing at RailState.”