HUNDREDS of laden railcars have been halted by forest fires that have damaged tracks in western Canada during the region's severe heat wave, creating a bottleneck of exports and delaying imports.
A fire that burned down a village in British Columbia last week damaged two nearby tracks operated by Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway, the companies that account for the bulk of railfreight through the Port of Vancouver. Grains, lumber, containers and other goods move along these lines.
Canadian miner Teck Resources warned that it expects steelmaking coal sales to drop by 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes in the third quarter because it was forced to reroute shipments north to Prince Rupert, British Columbia.
In an email to customers, German shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd said rail line damage has caused a berth delay at the Vancouver. Delays of 72 hours to 96 hours are expected, as well as a large backlog.
Canadian Pacific said had resumed mainline rail operations following safety inspections, but Montreal-based Canadian National still needs to repair its bridge near Lytton, BC, the village that was largely destroyed by fire last week.
The shutdown of the CN line means the disruption of as many as 30,000 barrels a day of crude that are normally shipped through Vancouver for refineries in the Pacific Northwest, according to a person familiar with operations. The Parkland refinery in Burnaby, BC, also has received crude and biofuel feedstocks via rail.
In a 48-hour period, more than 4,000 Canadian Pacific and Canadian National cars loaded with grain were idled in Canada, more than triple the daily average a week ago, data from the Ag Transport Coalition show.
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A fire that burned down a village in British Columbia last week damaged two nearby tracks operated by Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway, the companies that account for the bulk of railfreight through the Port of Vancouver. Grains, lumber, containers and other goods move along these lines.
Canadian miner Teck Resources warned that it expects steelmaking coal sales to drop by 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes in the third quarter because it was forced to reroute shipments north to Prince Rupert, British Columbia.
In an email to customers, German shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd said rail line damage has caused a berth delay at the Vancouver. Delays of 72 hours to 96 hours are expected, as well as a large backlog.
Canadian Pacific said had resumed mainline rail operations following safety inspections, but Montreal-based Canadian National still needs to repair its bridge near Lytton, BC, the village that was largely destroyed by fire last week.
The shutdown of the CN line means the disruption of as many as 30,000 barrels a day of crude that are normally shipped through Vancouver for refineries in the Pacific Northwest, according to a person familiar with operations. The Parkland refinery in Burnaby, BC, also has received crude and biofuel feedstocks via rail.
In a 48-hour period, more than 4,000 Canadian Pacific and Canadian National cars loaded with grain were idled in Canada, more than triple the daily average a week ago, data from the Ag Transport Coalition show.
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