by CN9634
I just reread the excerpt and I don’t know if Mark did a stellar job unpacking here (he usually does great though so that’s not a dig) as he mentions rail dwell but there is no real talk about on dock dwell. CP can only control the fluidity of the rail network, so if they are saying marine terminal to rail ramp I’m thinking he heads Port to inland destination but also dwell at their own rail ramps. They say transit times of 24, 48, 70 hours then I would guess the rail dwell being how quickly they can mount the boxes inland. The overall point though I take from it is CP has existing capacity in their footprint (CN has been seeing ridiculous dwell at their ramps and have a reservation system that is a nightmare) to add trains and containers to their network. With a fluid network you can move those containers off dock to the rail you can certainly increase annual TEU throughout. Something that CP will need to address if they do add a steamship call or two to SJ is sidings in Quebec and Maine, both condition, length and automation all factors. I suspect they’d need to add one long one in Maine on a CTC island and probably at least 2 or 3 in QC likewise. NBSR side will be another factor, and I’m sure CP will need to put up some coin.