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CN Rail to Purchase 350 Lumber Cars to Meet Growing Demand of Canada’s Forest Industry
This morning the Canadian forest products industry received news from one of the nation’s railroads which could only leave them overjoyed: CN Rail says it will purchase 350 riserless centrebeam lumber cars to meet growing demand for forest products despite lower segment revenues in the first quarter, according to Canadian Press late Wednesday. The new…
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US New Home Sales, Apartment Inventory: March and 1Q 2018
According to the US Census Bureau and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development last week, sales of new homes in the US rose by +4% over the month of March to reach a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 694,000. Year-to-date, covering 1Q 2018, the total number of new homes sold is +10.3% ahead of…
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Great Canadian Rail Fiasco 2017 – July ’18
Monumentally-frustrated North American forest operators were astonished last week to receive word from a major Canadian railroad that the egregious logistics and supply chain problems of last winter will not be unwound until July. Those Canadian sawmill facilities which are at the mercy of one or the other of the two Canadian rail operators have…
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North American Railway Difficulties
Yet another transportation issue bombshell hit the North American forest industry last week in the form of a potential looming labour disruption in Canada. Wednesday reported the Manitoba Co-operator that members of the Teamsters and IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) unions were set to strike CP Rail April 21, but postponed it until union…
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US Housing Starts, Construction Permits: March 2018
An encouraging headline Wednesday by NAHB Eye on Housing, “Most US States Record YTD Single-Family Permits Growth in February 2018” provides only more evidence that US home building and real estate business have come roaring back since the US housing starts crash of September 2006. Over the first two months of 2018, the total number…
