MILWAUKEE, Wisc. — Canadian National maintained its top-ranked status in a major shipper survey released this week, but the other railroads closed the gap by showing improvement — particularly Norfolk Southern, which vaulted from last place into a tie for second, Trains.com reports.
The Freight Pulse III survey, conducted by Morgan Stanley analyst Jim Valentine in conjunction with Transportation & Distribution magazine, was based on the responses of 850 shippers. A similar survey was conducted in January.
CN again scored a 6.7 out of 10 in an average shipper ranking that includes on-time delivery, speed of delivery, ease of doing business, and value for the dollar. CN was followed by NS and Burlington Northern Santa Fe at 6.4, Union Pacific at 6.3, Kansas City Southern at 6.2, Canadian Pacific at 6.1, and CSX at 5.9.
In the January survey, NS was ranked last with an overall rating of 5.3. The turnaround shows how NS’s Thoroughbred Operating Plan has gained traction since it was fully implemented in February. The plan uses many of the same scheduled railway principles adopted by CN. It has reduced transit times by as much as a third for 75% of the railroad’s merchandise customers, while improving on-time performance.
“We think one of the driving forces behind the improvement identified in the customer survey is our Thoroughbred Operating Plan,” says NS spokeswoman Susan Terpay. “We’re making strides in reducing terminal dwell time, cycle time, increasing train speeds and overall performance.”
The pecking order from the January survey was CN, UP, BNSF, CPR, CSX, KCS, and NS.
The May survey confirmed much of what the January survey found about shipper views of railroads: shippers find it difficult to do business with railroads, and say the service lags that of trucks. And shippers, citing service concerns, remain reluctant to shift traditional truckload business to intermodal.