CPKC is in the midst of moving large quantities of grain as harvest has come to a close in the prairies.

Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Bulk Elizabeth Hucker details some of that work.

"So in week 12 of the grain shipping week from October 15th to the 21st CPKC moved approximately 560,000 metric tons to ports like Vancouver, Thunder Bay, Eastern Canada, and some of the US destinations across North America. It's actually our third-largest week since the grain shipping year started in August of this year."

 So far car orders have been going well through the fall.

"EOF has been strong crop year to date. We've been in excess of 80% of our order demand that we receive through our system," said Hucker, "We're staying in close contact with our customers with regard to the forecast for the remainder of this year and into Q1 of 2024."

Hucker says that now the ongoing strike action in the eastern part of the country is becoming a concern.

"I think the challenge that we have in front of us right now is the Saint Lawrence Seaway strike, which is ongoing at this time. More than 12 million tons of grain annually move through the ports that make up the Seaway, primarily through Thunder Bay's 8 grain elevators. So we're very closely watching for impacts of the supply chain in our customer as the strike goes on."

Meanwhile, ports on the western side of the country are moving smoothly.

"So Vancouver is moving very well right now," said Hucker, "Last week there was some rain that did impact some vessel loading, but otherwise, grain is moving through the ports in a very efficient manner." 

Hucker says anyone looking for more information on what CPKC wants to accomplish over the winter can find that online.

"As winter is upon us in Western Canada, we released our winter plan to the Canadian government a number of weeks ago. It outlined the things that CPKC is doing to safely operate through winter conditions throughout North America. It's posted on our website at www.cpkcr.com."