Canada, U.S. shippers brace for possible CP Rail strike, latest supply-chain disruption

March 15, 2022

Thousands of workers at Canada’s second-biggest railway, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd, have threatened to strike this week, potentially disrupting the movement of grain, potash and coal at a time of soaring commodity prices.

The strike is the latest risk to Canada’s battered supply chain, which last year weathered floods in British Columbia that washed out track and suspended access to Canada’s biggest port. The COVID-19 pandemic, a trucker shortage and costly global freight rates have also hampered the flow of goods and ignited food inflation.

Canada, the second-largest country by area after Russia, depends heavily on rail to move commodities and manufactured goods to port.

CP’s network runs across much of southern Canada, extending as far south as Kansas City in the United States. Grain is CP’s largest business.

The last major Canadian railway labor stoppage, at Canadian National Railway Co in 2019, lasted eight days and took weeks for shippers to recover...

This was excerpted from the 15 March 2022 edition of the Financial Post.

Topic(s)

Freight & Transport

International Trade and Border Management

Information source

Canadian News Channel

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