CN to boost service through new
intermodal agreements
Canadian National Railway (CN), the Montreal-based railroad that has
worked in recent years to improve productivity and shorten transit times,
is extending that approach to its seaport partners through a series of new
“service level agreements.”
In addition to establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) and meas-
urement tools, the agreements formalize the tracking, electronic sharing,
and application of the resulting data, CN said.
The aim of the service agreements is to increase coordination among the
railroad, ports, terminal operators, and ocean carriers, according to Jean-Jacques Ruest, CN’s chief marketing officer. Ruest delivered the keynote
address at the American Association of Port Authorities’ (AAPA) 99th
Annual Convention in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Some 700 port professionals
from throughout the Western Hemisphere attended the event.
Under the agreement, participants will collect and share data about the
time spent at each handling point, including offloading the vessel, dwell
time at the terminal, and rail transit times to destination. Terminal dwell
times are a particular focus; data provided by the terminals will help CN
identify what Ruest called “glowing boxes”—containers that have been on
the ground too long and need special attention.
The data will be jointly analyzed and used to improve service and productivity, said Ruest. The details of data sharing and analysis are still being
worked out and tested, but CN expects to exchange some types of data
daily, he said in a press conference following his address.
The Port of Halifax and terminal operators Halterm and Ceres were the first
to sign the service-level agreement; so far, CN has made similar deals with terminal operators in Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Montreal, and New Jersey.
The service-level agreements are one component of CN’s growing focus
on supply chain services. Toward that end, the railroad has opened a network of multimodal logistics parks in Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, and
Memphis. CN will open an additional logistics park in Calgary in 2013. ;
—Toby Gooley
they said it:
The beauty of our industry is
that we don’t do things just to get
through the next big crisis. We do
things to make change that lasts.
—Rosalyn Wilson, author of the annual State of Logistics report, commenting at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ annual conference on the supply chain’s ability to respond to dramatic business
changes with solutions that have long-term value.
“
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ports fare better in second
round of TIGER funding
The nation’s port interests were treated
more favorably in the second round of federal infrastructure funding than they were in
the initial cycle earlier this year, according to
figures released in late October by the U.S.
Department of Transportation (DOT).
The DOT disbursed nearly $95 million in
grant money to port projects in the second
phase of the Transportation Investment
Generating Economic Recovery Program,
currently known as TIGER II. The amount
represents 17 percent of the nearly $557
million doled out by the DOT in the program’s second cycle.
All told, port projects accounted for
seven of the 42 funding applications that
were approved by the federal agency. The
funds were made available through legislation appropriating transportation funding
for fiscal year 2010.
In the first round of TIGER grants
announced in February, port projects
received only 8 percent of the $1.5 billion in
funding, a ratio that left port interests deeply
disappointed. The ports have said they
should receive, at minimum, one-fourth of
all TIGER grant funding, especially since
other transport modes have already received
funding through other unrelated programs.
The TIGER funding was seeded by the
$787 billion economic stimulus package
signed into law by President Obama in
February 2009.
The big winner was the Port of Miami,
which received nearly $23 million to establish containerized rail intermodal service
through the construction of an intermodal
yard and a container rail transfer facility, as
well as to make improvements in the existing rail and bridge infrastructure. The Port of
Los Angeles received $16 million to build an
intermodal rail yard as well.
In a statement, Kurt Nagle, president and
CEO of the American Association of Port
Authorities, said, “We applaud [DOT’s] recognition of the critical role our nation’s ports
play and the increased federal support of
TIGER II.” Nagle said the new funding “moves
us closer to the 25 percent of overall TIGER
grant funding we believe is appropriate.” ;
