Service Level Agreements that bring Canadian National Railway, container terminals, shippers and ports into a shared communications network are dramatically increasing the efficiency and transparency of the logistics chain up north. And, according to Paul Waite, Vice-President, Intermodal for CN they are already having an impact on Canada's speed and reliability in meeting the demands of buyers.
The agreements are part of the railway's Intermodal Excellence initiative (IMX) that offers scheduled railroading by providing pre-defined daily train capacity, slot, gate and equipment reservations, and day-of-week pricing to smooth the intermodal demand.
Most recently Level of Service Agreements on Canada's West Coast have been entered into by:
Squamish Terminals, a Deep-Water, Break-Bulk Terminal Located In Squamish, B.C. The terminal is a wholly owned subsidiary of Grieg Star Shipping, Based In Bergen, Norway, and is located at the north end of Howe Sound, 32 nautical miles north of Port Metro Vancouver.
Tembec, an integrated forest products company with operations in North America and France. With sales of approximately $2 billion and some 4,300 employees, it operates over 30 market pulp, paper and wood product-manufacturing units, and produces silvichemicals from by-products of its pulping process and specialty chemicals. Tembec markets its products worldwide and has sales offices in Canada, the United States, China, Korea and Japan.
Canfor Pulp Limited Partnership, a global supplier of pulp and paper products with operations in the central interior of British Columbia. Canfor owns and operates three mills in Prince George, B.C., which are among the lowest cost NBSK pulp producers in the industry. The company is the largest North American, and third largest global, producer of market NBSK Pulp and is the leading producer of fully bleached, high performance Kraft Paper.
West Fraser Timber Co Ltd., an integrated forest products company producing lumber, wood chips, fibreboard, plywood, pulp, and newsprint. The company carries on its operations through subsidiary companies and joint ventures owned directly or indirectly by the company's principal operating subsidiary West Fraser Mills.
Daishowa-Marubeni International Ltd., an integrated forest products company first established in western Canada in 1969 by Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Co. Ltd. and Marubeni Corporation of Japan. DMI has become one of the top pulp producers in North America. The company employs over 600 people in British Columbia and Alberta and conducts business with additional 600 woodlands, log and chip haul contractors.
Upon signing the agreement, Ron Anderson, chief executive officer of Squamish Terminals, said in a statement: 'This agreement will allow us to better plan our transhipment of export pulp from rail to ocean-going vessel, including handling equipment and staffing required to operate the terminal. A more efficient supply chain will further enhance our service level to our customers and generate important productivity gains.'
'Seven-day-a-week unloading at the terminal will help to reduce potential issues in the supply chain and will support our efforts to ensure customers receive more consistent supplies,' said Marc Leblanc, logistics manager of Tembec.' 'Such increased supply chain efficiencies are consistent with Tembec's goal of achieving maximum reliability of product delivery and superior service for our customers. This will be key to capturing increased market share for our product.'
Waite told AJOT CN Rail has signed agreements with all of the major port authorities in Canada including: Port Metro Vancouver, the Port of Montr'al, the Port of Halifax, the Port of Prince Rupert and Level of Service Agreements with the ocean terminals associated with each of those ports.
'What's happened in the past,' Waite said, 'is a steamship line, let's say Maersk, would be unhappy and would say 'my boxes aren't moving fast enough through Deltaport' for example. A
