Exporters suffer logistical horrors as CN yet to rebuild service to Vancouver port

Key takeaways:

Official states it could take months to recover normal transportation of goods within B.C.
Canadian National Railway has been ready to relocate some of its train traffic to the Port of Prince Rupert on B.C.’s North Coast after flood disaster settled southern routes.

Nightmares for exporters of BC:

Flooding in southern B.C. remains to present logistical hurdles for exporters as Canadian National Railway Co. closed its service with the important freight corridor because of abundant rainfall, flooding and landslides.

Exports are moreover hindered by ship traffic going gradually through the Port of Vancouver.

“The recovery of the manufacturing sector, in general, has slowed down and the crisis in B.C. is just going to make it worse,” stated Dennis Darby, the president of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters. Source – cbc.ca

He said trains were operating at very low speeds even before the Montreal-based railway pulled the plug on its reopening efforts.

“We hope … that this gets back to normal as soon as possible, but it’s going to take weeks at least, months probably.” Source – cbc.ca

CN said it relocated seven trains throughout the weekend but chose to “proactively close its network” because the rain was creating raised debris, washout and landslide action.

“Our crews are working to find safe and effective ways of managing the water flow, stabilizing the infrastructure and monitoring the overall state of the network,” railway spokesman Mathieu Gaudreault drafted in an email. Source – cbc.ca

CN has been able to turn several rail traffic to the Port of Prince Rupert, which continues completely operational and is not affected by the difficult climate.

But CN stated northbound and eastbound traffic to and from Vancouver are still impacted by these circumstances.