Looming railway shutdown disastrous for chemical industry, say stakeholders
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OTTAWA — With Canada’s two largest freight railways preparing for an extended work stoppage, the chemical industry is sounding the alarm.
Over 9,000 railway engineers, conductors and yard workers will be off the job on Thursday, as talks between the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) and both CN and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) show no signs of resolution.
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This unprecedented work stoppage, says Bob Masterson, president and CEO of the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada, will prove devastating to the country’s chemical producers.
“Devastating may not be a strong enough word,” Masterson said.
“We have had many strikes, disruptions and blockades in recent years, and port strikes as well, but we’ve never seen a situation where both Class 1 railways are out of service at the same time.”
If both CN and CPKC shut down this Thursday, Masterson said the effects will be far-reaching.
“This will shut down the entire trade infrastructure in the country,” he said.
“Every port, every railway — that’s it.”
That’s a big deal for Canada’s chemical industry, Masterson said, which ships about $100 billion in product annually — with an appreciable portion destined for export.
“Eighty per cent of that moves by rail,” Masterson said, which equates to about 500 rail tanker cars shipped daily.
“So if it doesn’t move, we’ve got a problem.”
Despite the work stoppage still being days away, chemical producers are already feeling the impacts.
Some chemicals, including chlorine, can’t be transported by road.
That’s a huge problem, Masterson said, considering chlorine from Canadian plants supplies thousands of water treatment plants in both Canada and the U.S., who are now scrambling to find alternatives.
“There is no plan B for anyone in our industry,” he said.
“If you could theoretically replace those with tanker trucks on the road, you’re talking well over 1,500 trucks — even for our industry alone there aren’t 1,500 extra trucks, there certainly aren’t 1,500 extra drivers.”
Both CN and CPKC halted picking up chlorine rail cars on Aug. 11, Masterson said.
Plant shutdowns are possible if the strike drags on, Masterson said — pointing out that restarting those plants once shipments resume could take days or even weeks.
The work stoppage will also impact Canada’s smaller branch railways, who exclusively rely on interchanging freight cars with larger railways.
While the unions and railways stagger their contract negotiations to prevent nationwide shutdowns, a year-long contract extension granted to CN meant collective agreements with both CN and CPKC expired at the end of last year.
TCRC issued a 72-hour strike notice on Monday, while CN said it would lock workers out on Thursday if no deal was reached.
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