Top US-Canada supply chain stories of 2023
In 2023, the Canadian commercial transportation industry witnessed everything from strikes at ports in British Columbia to protests from truck drivers fighting for unpaid wages to one of the biggest railroad mergers in North American history.
With 2023 coming to an end, FreightWaves has compiled the five biggest stories that shaped the Canadian transportation industry this year.
Canadian Pacific’s $31 billion acquisition of Kansas City Southern approved by regulators
The Surface Transportation Board approved Canadian Pacific’s plans to merge with Kansas City Southern in March, with the two Class I railroads combining to create a freight rail system linking all of North America.
Shareholders of CP and KCS approved the $31 billion merger in December 2021. The rail merger is one of the largest over the last several decades. Southern Pacific and Union Pacific railroads completed a $5.4 billion merger in 1996 that created the largest railroad network in the U.S. at the time.
The merged company, known as CPKC, aims to shift approximately 64,000 truckloads annually from North America’s roads to rail. CPKC offers single-line rail options facilitating the flow of goods among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
Canadian Pacific’s $31 billion merger with Kansas City Southern was finalized in March, creating a freight rail system linking all of North America. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)
“CPKC is the only railway connecting North America and has unrivaled port access on coasts around the continent, from Vancouver to Atlantic Canada to the Gulf of Mexico to the Port of Lazaro Cardenas on Mexico’s Pacific coast,” CPKC said in a news release.
After the merger was finalized, CPKC quickly announced several more partnerships, including agreements with Schneider National and Knight-Swift Transportation for intermodal services using the company’s Mexico Midwest Express daily premium single-line intermodal rail service.
Other Class I railways announced similar north-south freight railway partnerships following the CPKC merger, such as Canadian National, Union Pacific and Ferromex.
CN is also partnering with maritime and logistics services company Crowley to provide integrated rail and ocean service from Mexico, to the U.S. Midwest and Canada via the Port of Mobile in Alabama.
Dockworkers at Canada’s West Coast ports launch strike
On July 1, more than 7,400 dockworkers represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in Canada went on strike after negotiations with the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) failed to reach a new labor contract.
The strike, which lasted about a month, disrupted container traffic at two of Canada’s busiest ports in Vancouver and Prince Rupert, key export gateways for the country. The contract dispute also paralyzed logistics operations and supply chains across Canada and the U.S.
Source: freightwaves.com
