Canadian National Railway said this week it’s alleviating a shortage of rail capacity for lumber shipments in British Columbia.
The largest Canadian railroad’s ability to move wood products is gradually catching up with demand following extreme winter conditions in North America this year, Emily Hamer, a Vancouver-based CN spokesperson, said Thursday in a phone interview with Bloomberg.
While a lack of rail capacity has caused lumber shipments to pile up since January, delays worsened last month because of a labour dispute involving truckers that service Port Metro Vancouver, said Peter Novak, manager of lumber sales at BC sawmill operator Dunkley Lumber Ltd.
“Every winter there are interruptions in service because of the cold, but it’s never been this protracted,” Novak said.
Novak said Canadian National is now supplying his mill with about half of the specialized cars it needs to meet customer demand for lumber, up from about 40 percent two weeks ago.
“It’s definitely a bit of relief, but we’re not there yet,” he said to Bloomberg. “We’re cautiously optimistic we’ll be back to normal by mid May.”
