(The Canadian Press circulated the following on September 5.)
CALGARY — Formal complaints are being filed against Canadian National Railway Co. (TSX:CNR) by a group of Western grain shippers who accuse the railway of hurting farmers by delaying grain shipments.
Complaints by the Canadian Wheat Board and North East Terminal Ltd. were filed Wednesday with the Canadian Transportation Agency, alleging the Montreal-based railway has failed to comply with a previous ruling by the regulator.
Other shippers expected to file cases are Parrish & Heimbecker Ltd., Paterson Grain, Providence Grain Group Inc. and North West Terminal Ltd.
“As grain shippers we are pushing back. Farmers and all grain industry players need better service from a railway we rely on to move Canada’s grain, said Ward Weisensel, CEO of the Canadian Wheat Board in a conference call Wednesday.
Minor recent changes by Canada’s largest railway have not proven flexible enough to move farmers’ grain to ports efficiently, Arason said.
An official with CN Rail said the company believes it is in compliance with the Canadian Transportation Agency’s order.
“We’re still reviewing the complaint and at this point we’re surprised and maintain that we have fully complied with the CTA order of July,” said CN Rail public affairs manager Jim Feeny.
CN Rail was ordered to improve access to rail cars for grain shippers after one company complained of discrimination.
The CTA ruled CN had failed to fulfill its obligations to Great Northern Grain, a northern Alberta inland grain terminal. Great Northern had complained that CN was not fairly distributing rail cars, rendering it and other small companies uncompetitive in the marketing of grain.
The agency ordered CN to put in place a program by Aug. 1 enabling shippers to order blocks of 50 cars in advance and to not restrict trading in cars.
The CTA expected its ruling would “help to encourage a new and open dialogue between CN and its shippers so that they are able to reasonably deal with car-supply issues independent of regulatory intervention to the greatest possible extent.”
“We believe CN has failed in its legal obligation to provide us with the railway car supply that we need,” said Garnet Ferguson, general manager of North East Terminal Ltd. in Wadena, Saskatchewan.
“They have done so by introducing a series of modifications to the distribution programs over the past few years. The last straw came a year ago when they unilaterally eliminated advance bookings for anything but 100 car blocks,” he added.
The grain shippers want the agency to order CN Rail to suspend a program that would award rail cars to bidders on Thursday.
They also want a “mediated solution that would avoid full litigation before the CTA panel.”
Feeny said CN had thought talks with the shippers had been going well.
“We’ve been in discussions with them all summer long on this issue and we believe we made every effort to accommodate their requests. We are surprised that they chose this route,” he said.