25 February 2011

Canadian Pacific and Montreal Port Authority Sign Productivity and Performance Agreement

Calgary Alberta - North American freight railroad Canadian Pacific and the Montreal Port Authority (MPA) today announced the signing of a collaborative agreement on performance and productivity that formalizes the railroad's and the port's ongoing supply chain collaboration.
 
"This collaboration agreement continues to strengthen our long partnership with the Port of Montreal, setting the stage for a cross-supply chain collaboration that improves performance and service of the Continental Gateway," said CP Executive Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer Jane O'Hagan. "Our collaboration will create the most efficient and reliable routing for freight traffic moving between Europe and the American Midwest."
 
"This new service agreement reflects the commitment of the port and the Canadian Pacific to improve efficiency and productivity of our management of containers traffic and strengthen the Port of Montreal's competitiveness," said Sylvie Vachon, president and chief executive officer of the MPA.
 
Canadian Pacific's tracks already provide the most direct routing between the Port of Montreal and distribution centers in the US Midwest and Northeast. In a typical year, CP freight trains carry the equivalent of more than 1 million truckloads of merchandise through the Detroit River Tunnel, moving goods from Canada's industrial heartland and trans-Atlantic trade from the Port of Montreal to the American market. This is the fifth collaboration agreement announced by Canadian Pacific in the past 12 months.
 
About the Port of Montreal
 
Operated by the Montreal Port Authority (MPA), the Port of Montreal is a major diversified transshipment centre that handles all types of goods, containerized and non-containerized cargo, liquid bulk, and dry bulk. It is a leading container port served by six of the ten largest container-shipping lines in the world. 1,331,351 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) were handled at the Port of Montreal in 2010, representing 12,033,434 tonnes of cargo.
 
The Port also handled 8,151,136 tonnes of liquid bulk, 3,204,076 tonnes of dry bulk, and 2,380,863 tonnes of grain in 2010. Port activity supports 18,200 jobs and generates $1.5 billion in economic spin-offs annually.