CTA transport review

[CptnObvious]

So Al-Katib is chairing the CTA review in Regina on the 22nd to see if we can get our grain moving a little better this year. What a perverse sense of humour. Murad Al-Katib was one of the biggest cheerleader for the destruction of the CWB which led to the snafu in the first place.

[ColevilleH2S]

Well if he was influential enough to end one monopoly, maybe he can put an end to two?

[dave4441]

Thats a pretty big reach there CptnObvious. How about the generations of farmers that wanted rid of CWB?

I know Murad as a competitor and colleauge. I have sat on several boards with him and he gets things done. There is no one i would rather see on this file.

[gustgd]

Al-Katib has vast Canadian and international logistics experience from starting SaskCan in his basement to building Alliance Grain Traders as one of the worlds biggest handlers of pulses in the world.

He's chaired the Canadian special crops association and helped represent Canadian Agricuture around the world.

To say he cheered when the Monopoly was overturned, would not be untrue. I and many others did as well. We are all still working on making the system better still

To say the Monopoly CWB was a great help in improving Canadian transportation would be giving it more credit than they are due.

That's obvious

[bucket]

Here is list of things the system needs.

1. Vessel reports
2. Port terminal space
3. Prairie space.
4. Rail unloads
5. Terminals doing their own shuttling of cars. Its idiotic that graincos have 24 hours to load cars so they can sit there for a week. They should run them to local CP/CN site and pick up empties and let the railways take them to port.
6.Rail line twinning to speed the system up. The money this country has spent fighting an oil war would have went a long way on this file. We export oil, not sure why Canada has to secure oil for the US using our taxpayer money????
7. Until the rail crisis is fixed there has to be some co-ordination amongst all players to speed the process up. Local elevator is not getting a train next week because 6 producer cars have to be spotted. The railways are purposely slowing the system down.
8. Old sidings could be retrofitted with bin yards for those that want producer cars. Lots of shiny new bins in producers yards but no closer to a rail line. Most sidings should have a power source nearby for fans.

We could become a reliable exporter again if someone recognizes the problems.

Hermanson did that in 1997 and Canada wasted 17 years doing nothing to create a better transportation system. We created a trucking industry that has cost the economy and the environment plenty by not using rails. Consider that when you drive down one of our highways that has been beat to shit because the rail lines were allowed to pull out the most cost effective sytem in the world.

[bucket]

And to be clear, the right guy to chair the review is Larry Weber.

[gustgd]

Bucket that's the best thing you've written in months.

I'm with you on 1-5. Maybe 7?? Don't know enough to comment.

To advocate twinning rail lines and building bins on sidings is a longer game. Who pays?

As a guy who owns an old SWP wooden elevator we pay a lease to CN yearly for the privalage. That's likely the impediment to building more trackside. You never will own the land underneath. How would it be taxed? As a farm or as a commercial business? The roads have to get graded somehow. Not saying there's no solution, but have to figure out counterpoints.

As far as the oil war statement I'll rely on a quote from Norman Bourlog

" Therefore I feel that the aforementioned guiding principle must be modified to read: If you desire peace, cultivate justice, but at the same time cultivate the fields to produce more bread; otherwise there will be no peace.

[bucket]

When the rail lines were allowed to be tore out the rules for sidings should have changed as well. The sidings have a good base, flat, and could be used for bins.

But then again joint running rights should have been implemented before the track was torn out. We would all be in better shape.

[bucket]

Sometimes you had to look back to see where you have been before you can go forward.

No one has learnt shit about how far this country has fallen in regards to transportation.

I applaud anyone who takes on this task but if it implements no changes, we are no better off.

[CptnObvious]

Let's see,

The CWB meant nothing to Al-Katib, he just helped to smash it for fun. It has cost the western grain industry billions.

I suppose generations have wanted to end the CWB( father, son, grandson) but they were always in the minority. polls have put support for the single desk at about 80% for many years.

The bucket list( snarf): 6 and 7 are good, though as mentioned expensive. I do see great value in twinning several stretches to facilitate two way traffic. The rest were handled by the old CWB, especially #7, which is why Gust is so uncomfortable with it.

It is obvious, whatever faults there were, the system ran much better with the CWB in place( no emergency legislation, no 'let's see if we can fix this mess' meetings, no tripling of the profits of the grain companies).

We need something with the knowledge, power, skill, and passion of the old CWB to smarten up grain transport for the benefit of farmers. If you can't stomach that call it 'Shirley' if you like, but bring it back.

[westernvicki]

Add to the list,
The will of a nation that puts the timely export as a national priority, and build and a strategic plan and a process which targets performance is essential.

If the above is a goal of the country, the review may have value.

A timely monitor and report car on performance is essential.

An office in the WEST capable of solution building in event of service issues.

TARRIFFs implemented by rail need to be negotiated as a two way street.

Service Level Agreements need to reflect the demand of the business and not the agenda of the railway.

Industry needs to coordinate, provide data documenting what is necessary on a day to day basis for performance to enable operations, & investment.

New business needs to be accommodated.

Simply put Canada needs to decide what type of export nation they wish to be in the future is the major ingredient. Once that goal is set the plan can develop.

[gustgd]

Obviously The Captain wants to rewrite history. I and most among the Wheat Growers didn't want to demolish the whole CWB system. That was the decision of the group of 8 Monopoly supporters on the BOD. They felt that without the Monopoly the whole thing was destined for the trash bin. Do they intentionally got adversarial with the Federal govt. Thumbed their noses at the Prime Minister and Cabinet and set up for a fight. Which in the end they lost and took a lot of people down with them and set up Western Canadian farmers for another generation of fights.

The WG position was and still is that the Monopoly was the problem. If no cost buy backs would have been offered on the same terms as exports from the East, I would have been satisfied. Most realized that their would be a small checkoff for research an Market development and would have paid. That's a communication problem. Something easily overcome with time

I also see much of the "problem" of last years record crop was because most commercial farmers poured the groceries to the crop hitting for the fences, now that they had an opportunity to capitalize on success.

[BreadWinner]

Captain Oblivious or should I say KYLE, I couldn't think of a better person to chair this committee. His business is what our whole industry should look like, value adding industries that help get rid of bulk rail freight. Those good old socialist days are gone so try some forward thinking for a change.

[westernvicki]

The problem is the gap between Canadian value and what the world pays is still too wide with the CWB and today.

Efficient logistics creating the environment for a competitive industry must be enabled if this gap is ever to be accommodated to decrease.

Reality is producers in Canada cannot pay highest input costs and lowest in the world real value for production.

[westernvicki]

Furthermore with regards to Murad, I see his strengths as such he has invested in industry on both sides of the border. He brings to this table the understanding of what we need to be a nation capable of attracting investment.
Undoubtedly like all Canadian shippers I expect his shareholders have paid do some degree for the failure of railway performance. Therefore if the national fundamental long run goal in to enable investment and attract value add food capital then indeed having a builder on the review board was not a bad choice.

As for growers we need to understand what we need to decrease the gap in prices for which we alone pay the difference. And we need to insist this gap is tracked and justified daily.