Transportation Crisis in Canada

VANCOUVER - Oct 7/05 - SNS -- Problems with rail transportation in western Canada are reaching catastrophic levels, with exporters facing steep demurrage bills on bulk conventional exports because cargo is not reaching ports.

While growers do not seem to be engaged by the issue, the trade cautions that the massive demurrage bills being paid by the industry will ultimately be recouped from growers in the form of reduced bids -- and the risk growers will be forced to carry product over into the next marketing year because the Canadian system cannot handle it.

However, that may be too subtle an impact to push growers into the kind of activism needed to bring enough public and political pressure to bear on the railways to force them to immediately improve their performance.

This is leading some of the more politically and economically conservative western Canadians to regret the privatization of CN Rail. More dramatically, some are talking privately about the need to nationalize the western Canadian rail system because of a belief the two railway corporations are not interested in the grain business.

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