(CN issued the following on July 9.)
MONTREAL — CN welcomed the arrival yesterday of a second weekly steamship alliance vessel at the Port of Prince Rupert.
The COSCO/K-Line/Yang Ming/Hanjin (CKYH) alliance will now ship Hong Kong, South China, East China and North China cargoes, as well as those from Yokohama, to North America via Prince Rupert.
COSCO was the first steamship company to serve the new terminal and launched an initial weekly call at the port from China and Yokohama in October 2007.
James M. Foote, CN’s executive vice-president, Sales and Marketing, said: “The CKYH alliance second weekly vessel is testament to the logistics value of the CN-Port of Prince Rupert-Maher Terminals service offering to the international shipping community. Together, we have created a new, highly competitive gateway for goods entering North America and transiting CN’s network to the U.S. Midwest and Central Canada.
“CN is consistently delivering fifth morning availability of containers in Chicago and sixth morning availability in Memphis, a leading U.S. distribution hub. With the growth in imports over Rupert, we continue to identify new opportunities for backhaul container movements to Asia from the continental interior, including the U.S. Midwest and Western Canada.”
The new container traffic from the second-vessel call at Prince Rupert is consistent with CN’s expectations for the port’s operations and is included in the Operating Plan for implementing its proposed acquisition of the principal lines of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Co.