CP service opens Vancouver rail routing to Ohio ag exporters

US agriculture exporters in Ohio can now rail their products to the Port of Vancouver for Asian delivery after Canadian Pacific railway extended its reach into the US Midwest by partnering with an Ohio-Indiana short-line and a rail terminal operator.

CP's new service connects from Chicago to Jeffersonville, Ohio, through Genesee & Wyoming's Indiana & Ohio line that runs through Ft. Wayne and Lima, Indiana, before reaching the intermodal terminal operated by Bluegrass Farms of Ohio, a farm consortium. The service which also gives US importers a new option just two months after CP launched direct rail service from Vancouver to Detroit, and the railroad's leveraging of its live-lift operation at Portal, North Dakota, to accelerate cross-border shipments.

Bluegrass Farm's 90-acre facility is near the Interstate-71 corridor, connecting to the Columbus, Cincinnati, and Dayton markets. The terminal can handle the transloading of bulk shipments into containers, and has ample storage for trailers and containers, CP said.

As part of its effort to boost North America exports to Asia, CP has expanded its sales and marketing presence in Asia. "We are putting more dots on the map, expanding our reach and working with current and potential customers to sustainably grow our business and theirs," CP President and CEO Keith Creel said in a statement.

Vancouver's volume rose 9.6 percent year over-year, to 1.6 million TEU, in the first half. Loaded containerized imports during the first half of the year were up 11.8 percent to 803,551 TEU. Laden exports were up 3.7 percent to 560,378 TEU.

Meanwhile, the Northwest Seaport Alliance, a partnership between the ports of Tacoma and Seattle and a competitor for US export cargo moving through the Pacific Northwest, has seen strong but less dramatic growth. The ports altogether handled 1.8 million TEU total in the first six months of the year, a 6.6 percent year-over-year increase. Loaded import TEU volume was up 6.9 percent year over and year, while loaded export volume was up 1.6 percent.

Source: Journal of Commerce