CN and Indiana Rail Road to launch all-rail service for containerized Trans-Pacific imports/exports between west-coast Canadian ports and Indianapolis
CHICAGO and INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 16, 2013 - CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI) and the Indiana Rail Road Company (INRD) announced today an agreement on the construction of an intermodal terminal in Indianapolis and their plan to offer Indiana importers and exporters an all-rail option for containerized products moving to/from Asia.
CN serves the Port of Vancouver, B.C., and the Port of Prince Rupert, B.C., and a wide range of container shipping lines that offer scheduled service from all major Asian ports.
"CN is pleased to enter into this partnership with the Indiana Rail Road," said Jean-Jacques Ruest, CN executive vice-president and chief marketing officer.
"This all-rail service will reduce transit times and improve transportation consistency for Indiana importers, making their supply chains more competitive. CN's level-of-service agreements with the container terminal operators at Vancouver and Prince Rupert deliver superior fluidity from ship-to-rail at the ports."
"This is a great day for Indianapolis-area importers and exporters who for years have asked for all-rail, direct-west coast intermodal service to the city," said Tom Hoback, INRD founder, president and chief executive officer. "Anyone who drives Interstate 65 between Indianapolis and Chicago knows what a bottleneck it is. CN-INRD intermodal service will offer a more reliable, consistent and environmentally-friendly movement of goods that is less susceptible to costly weather and congestion delays."
The new Indianapolis terminal is under construction and will be located at INRD's existing Senate Avenue Terminal, strategically located in downtown Indianapolis, less than a mile from Lucas Oil Stadium. It will be complemented by a container yard and will start receiving empty containers June 15, 2013; an on-site agricultural products containerized export loading facility will be in service about the same time. The first import train will arrive in late June.
CN estimates containerized import goods will flow in as little as 18-20 days from port loading in Shanghai and Qingdao, China, and Busan, Korea, to the INRD Senate Avenue Terminal, when using first port of call service.
About INRD:
The Indiana Rail Road Company is a privately-held, 500-mile railroad based in Indianapolis. The company hauls the equivalent of more than 800,000 truckloads of consumer, industrial and energy products each year. On the strength of its customer service, INRD was awarded Railway Age magazine's prestigious "Regional Railroad of the Year" award for 2012.
The company is also active in the community, operating the popular Santa Train, serving as a major sponsor of "Jingle Rails" at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, and providing education and public safety-related community grants. For more information, visit the Indiana Rail Road online at www.inrd.com or on Twitter and Facebook.
About CN:
CN - Canadian National Railway Company and its operating railway subsidiaries - spans Canada and mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the Gulf of Mexico, serving the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and key metropolitan areas of Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., Green Bay, Wis., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America. For information on CN, visit the company's website at www.cn.ca.
Forward-Looking Statements:
Certain information included in this news release constitutes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and under Canadian securities laws. CN cautions that, by their nature, these forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The Company cautions that its assumptions may not materialize and that current economic conditions render such assumptions, although reasonable at the time they were made, subject to greater uncertainty. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results or performance of the Company or the rail industry to be materially different from the outlook or any future results or performance implied by such statements. Important factors that could affect the above forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the effects of general economic and business conditions, industry competition, inflation, currency and interest rate fluctuations, changes in fuel prices, legislative and/or regulatory developments, compliance with environmental laws and regulations, actions by regulators, various events which could disrupt operations, including natural events such as severe weather, droughts, floods and earthquakes, labor negotiations and disruptions, environmental claims, uncertainties of investigations, proceedings or other types of claims and litigation, risks and liabilities arising from derailments, and other risks and assumptions detailed from time to time in reports filed by CN with securities regulators in Canada and the United States. Reference should be made to "Management's Discussion and Analysis" in CN's annual and interim reports, Annual Information Form and Form 40-F filed with Canadian and U.S. securities regulators, available on CN's website, for a summary of major risks. CN assumes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect future events, changes in circumstances, or changes in beliefs, unless required by applicable Canadian securities laws. In the event CN does update any forward-looking statement, no inference should be made that CN will make additional updates with respect to that statement, related matters, or any other forward-looking statement.
