Vancouver British Columbia - The work stoppage that has choked the flow of goods and commodities at the Vancouver port could reduce intermodal traffic for Canada's two major railways and erode revenue in their key forestry products businesses.
 
The three-week strike by about 1,800 truckers threatens to send ships to ports in the U.S. northwest that are not served by Canadian National Railway or Canadian Pacific Railway, said Fadi Chamoun, an equity analyst with Bank of Montreal.
 
CN has stopped hauling pulp and paper from wood and pulp mills in Western Canada as ocean-going shipments have stalled and warehouses have filled up.
 
The B.C. government said it plans to table back-to-work legislation this week, but it isn't clear if that would return the port to normal operations.
 
"The significant reduction in export activity is expected to further pressure CN Rail's forest products business, which was already grappling with sluggish demand from reduced construction activity levels as a result of harsh winter weather," Chamioun said in a research note.
 
The truckers, unionized and non-unionized, are striking over unpaid wait times and other grievances.
 
The port has said it will refuse to renew the licences for non-unionized strikers.
 
CN's forest products business accounts for 9 percent of its carloads and 14 percent of its revenue, the most of any major railway in North America.
 
Chamoun noted both railways' intermodal container volumes will be hurt if vessels avoid the freight backlog by docking at Seattle, Portland, or Tacoma, Washington, ports served by U.S. rivals.
 
CN spokesman Mark Hallman said any large shift of vessels to U.S. ports was a "concern" for the Montreal-based railway.
 
The railway has obtained an injunction preventing strikers from blocking the company's domestic intermodal terminal traffic.
 
But slowdowns persist at the terminal where bulk commodities, wheat, lumber, and pulp,are containerized for outgoing ships.
 
Eric Atkins.