(The following report by Scott Simpson appeared on the Vancouver Sun website on September 19.)
VANCOUVER, B.C. — A growing sense of frustration among local port terminal operators about “poor and inconsistent service” is prompting North Vancouver’s chamber of commerce to lead a new national call for railway system reforms.
North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce president Naomi Yamamoto said in a telephone interview on Wednesday that tens of millions of dollars in potential terminal improvements are being forestalled by uncertainty about quality of service – and she says local taxpayers could be victimized as well.
The chamber says its members, including North Shore terminal operators, accept that some delays are inevitable when weather conditions affect a rail line and stall the movement of goods including potash, coal, vegetable oil, grains, pulp, wood chips and sulphur.
But it is calling on the federal government, which is in the process of reviewing railway service provisions of the Canada Transportation Act, to compel railways to eliminate delays that arise from labour agreements and from movement of freight on rail lines owned by one railway but required by another seeking access to a port.
In one instance, a 1953 agreement between CN Rail and the Vancouver Port Authority guarantees CN exclusive access to North Shore terminals – which means CP Rail and other CN rivals have to hand over their trains to CN crews in order to get their customers’ goods into those terminals.
The transfer often takes place at Boston Bar in the Fraser Canyon and the North Vancouver chamber notes that the trains “may sit for long periods” before a CN crew becomes available – with terminals sitting idle while the switchover is completed.
The chamber says CN is doing “an admirable job” of controlling its labour expenses – to the detriment of the terminal operators.
“Because of the ownership rights (railway monopolies) that exist, terminal operators feel that there is little they can do to influence better coordination and reliability between railways,” says a North Vancouver chamber policy statement endorsed this week by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
“The interests of the port terminals aren’t being fairly weighed against the interests of the railways, who really are out there to increase their value to their shareholders,” Yamamoto said.
“These port facilities are obviously export oriented and they depend on products arriving on time to ensure that we are seen as a dependable supplier for export markets.
“But the rail service as it exists now is inadequate and the terminal operators are telling us that they face significant added costs, which erodes their competitive advantage.
“They are challenged by the fact that they face a monopoly situation in terms of the railway service that’s provided.”
The chamber wants the federal government to amend the transportation act so that labour issues – notably the lack of coordination on crew transfers between CP and CN do not continue to be an issue for terminal operators.
“Capital investments are not being made in our port terminals,” Yamamoto said. “If we can’t get the product to the terminal it doesn’t matter how much more efficient the terminals become.
“I’ve become afraid we will lose $100 million worth of infrastructure that a company may want to put into a terminal – and it will go somewhere else.
“I can tell you terminal operators on the North Shore are some of our biggest taxpayers in the city and it will affect everybody if their operations are not deemed profitable.”
Officials with CN did not respond by press time to The Vancouver Sun’s request for a comment on the situation.
In a news release, North Vancouver chamber board chair Mike Watson said railroad service to Lower Mainland ports has “deteriorated in recent years.”
He said the situation acts as a disincentive to investment, and that greater freight handling capacity would put the terminals in a “strong, competitive position to serve B.C.’s and western Canada’s critical exports.”