BNSF Northern US Rail shortfalls....

[farmaholic]

Its simple, you're not paying enough ado089.

Trendline yeilds for ag products
Oil
General freight for an active Western economy
Existing and coming on stream potash
Coal(?)
Lumber

All looking for static and yes, shrinking(abandoned) rail capacity. No problems here. We don't need joint/"OPEN" running rights or strategic extra capacity BUILT. They can build pipelines for one commodity type but heaven forbid rail gets built for multiple freight types. For every mile of branchline
abondoned or tore out they should have been required to increase capacity in some meaningful manner.

[dave4441]

Why do you say I don't like arbitrage?

[dave4441]

And where did I say a rail monopoly is good? That's the problem with this site, no one reads what you post and jumps to whine about things.

[bucket]

I know you can't order cars to match sales.

But why wouldn't graincos want that?

It about changing the way things are done or at the least compromising so that we move forward and not continue to be stuck in a rut of the past.

And why is it so important to know who I am on this forum? I don't think it will change my view or temperament.

I am a simple farmer with different thinking that doesn't want to be tied any group to be a sheep.

[farmaholic]

Bucket, you bring up a good point regarding farm groups. You're either labelled a righty or lefty and in the middle is the moderate's no man's land.

Don't give up. I think this site likely gets monitored for sentiments.

What does surprise me is the change of view, that maybe the open market wasn't the cure-all. Still have rail problems and accusations of stolen
income and a lack of transparency. Depending upon individual marketing success will determine the opinion. Is it a work in progress?

[bucket]

I got asked basically that question today at the elevator.

Manager asks me what I think 2 years into an open market?

I said I should pay more attention to basis but when I sign a contract for a window of delivery it would be nice to have it honored. Which puts it back partially to being able to order the cars when contracts are signed.

Most of the stuff I suggest seems so simple to put into scheduling.

[mbdog]

Farmaholic...IMO moving towards a more "open market" system is still the best, but you simply cannot reverse/demand change overnight to whats been built over decades/century. Under the circumstances, I for one think the Feds are doing a good job rolling this thing out, and also in terms of velocity of change. What's important is maintaining progress/pressure...buckets been doing a good job of maintaining awareness/beating the drum in this regard.

[ado089]

Farmaholic,every other business in the world has to find efficiency and innovation in order to do more with less. We've done our part by consolidating our shipping points, fuel is at a 5-6 year low and there is no risk of competition. We already pay $3600-3900/car to get our grain anywhere worth sending it. How much more should we pay? It's a neat buisness model though. Insurmountable barriers to entry then you give terrible service and demand a pay increase.

Dave I say you must not like arbitrage because you need open and easy flow of goods to have arbitrage, econ 111 my friend. You seem to be a staunch supporter of the rail companies so....

[farmaholic]

Exactly ado089..... how much more. I see it as a general lack of willingness on the RRs part, then you have people calling for a more "unregulated" system of grain movement. Odd thing is the competition bureau steps in when grain companies get bought and sold and are told they cant have too much market concentration in one single area. Same for the crop supply side of Viterra, but the RRs are supposed to be allowed to free rein? ?????? Why the hypocracy?

[farmaholic]

ado089. Remember, there have already been huge efficiency gains bynthe RRs. Greedy

[ado089]

I don't care if a company is greedy so long as I can set up shop next to them in attempting to take a bite of their market share. That is impossible with rail.

[dave4441]

First we need reporting of grain sales which will be so broad and generic it won't be funny. Then companies use that reported price to determine grower price. They will never be on the wrong side of the market. And the buyers overseas will also have another tool to price against. Let's add in reporting of profit per acre from the grower, determine what a reasonable return is and set the world market off it. Maybe pool the product and hold it off the market until price is right. This should all work. Careful what you ask for. The OIC re volumes is hurting your bottom line. You shouldn't want it to continue. It's a political tool as Ritz had to do something. Transportation is a tough job with lots of competing interests at federal level. I get pissed off when people act like this is such an easy fix. I have seen the complexities and if you get involved with grower group you start to see a depth to the issue that you can't glean from the Western Producer. And when you start calling people idiots, that are doing what they can, I get even more pissed off.

I live with a railroad that has a monopoly and of course I don't like it. But govt intervention is never positive. Private companies, owned by shareholders, will use that regulation to serve their own interests. Car supply is better then last year. Next 12 weeks will tell the tale for the whole crop year. But I hope they back away from regulating where cars have to go. Thunder Bay freeze up will free up capacity soon as well.

Would I like to have a guaranteed car order today, for next march? Of course but at what cost?

Incedently, grain is worth nothing sitting in the middle of the prairies. The only way it has value is if it gets moved to a customer. If we need more capacity it is going to come at a cost.

[westernvicki]

I hope some of you who took the time to complain about the system, took the time to do a CTA submission as the window is open to review the process.

I am a fan of monitoring performance: two report cards one industry reporting performance, the other railway reporting level of service by corridor.
With overall expectations of the system to provide a level of service that is reasonable given the nature of the country we live in.

The world is a competitive stage on which Canada must perform as a shipper or risk becoming a second string actor.
To do this service must be dependable and reasonable.

Apply your energy while it counts: send in a CTA wish list as my dad used to say: say it now or forever hold your peas. Simply stated: get involved.

[bucket]

Thanks for the reminder. When I get to that I will be suggesting the following.

1. Logistics of grain movement will start when contracts are signed. This means elevators will start ordering cars when the contracts are signed. It make no sense to do logistics a week ahead of when the cars are to arrive when there had been 6 months to plan it. Or when railways are running behind weeks behind.

2. A yearly meeting between all stakeholders to look for some efficiencies. For instance when Canpotex has shipping lulls in the movement of potash maybe grain could be hauled for a couple of trips from certain points.

3. Regular reporting - you know my position on this.

4. Maybe another look at branchlines that are only grain could be sold to an operator that picks up and returns cars to a designated point for the mainline operators on a regular schedule. This may help make producer car facilities more viable. Maybe someone could comment on Mobile Grain operations?

if the railways can find efficiency in dropping 112 cars on the mainline in the middle of nowhere. It only makes sense that they can drop 120 cars ten miles from their yards and let a operator move them thru the branchline.

5. Graincos have to be more transparent in there operations. More storage should be built by graincos. Much like a comment made about grain being worthless until it gets to and end user. It's even less valuable sitting in farmers storage. And there are plenty of reasons for that comment.

6.Maybe off topic but more field people to determine better yield results earlier in the crop year to start the process of scheduling grain movement.

Canada's export growth will continue. I thought the government was paying attention as the patted themselves on the back for economic growth. For this review to be done only every few years after a crisis seems someone has lost sight of what canada should be by now.

Let's not continue to make these mistakes.

The CTA reviews (rubber stamps)freight rates every year. Surely there is info submitted that could be used to plan better than they have been.

[bucket]

And from a safety point of view when the railways drop 112 cars to be loaded in 24 hours and then let it sit there for a week after the fact, why not give the grainco 3 days to load?

That's a simple change.