where's the arbritrage

[hobbyfrmr]

Bucket , when the siding is as large as the
terminals, then you have success.
I do agree that the big picture must change.
Influencing large profitable companies, and/or
government takes time, lots of time and studies
and meetings. Those who want to grow and sell
grain don't have that luxury. They will have to
adjust and adapt.
When the track is booked, order for the next
siding down the road. The employees will drive
the btrain 15 km and load there. If it's yourself,
and you need the money, you will do that.
I am agreeable to the bigger picture and dual
running rights. In the meantime, farmers have to
work on short term solutions to get money. I
chronically underestimate the wealth on farms in
western Canada. Long term lobbying and
organizational meetings are effective, I'm just
thinking about me....now.

[hobbyfrmr]

Printed tickets are more legitimate, less room for
human error, inversions, decimal points, bad
penmanship etc. I have seen this happen. It was a
dodgy farmer trying to gain 5%, then blaming it on
the the local simple guy writing in the weights and
I was new to the game and got buffaloed by the
farmer. end user kept things right.
Eventually, a person learns other people.

[classicalliberal]

There are some things to take into consideration. First of all grain companies cannot continue to buy grain that they can't move. The contract execution risk at all ends can cost a fortune. This is why they all have dog-shit bids. Can they haul to the US elevators or grain user in the US? Sure the can but it is such a small drop in the bucket. It takes 300 to 350 US trucks to haul 100 cars of grain. There are also backhaul issues and distance issues with trucking that can make it un-competitive in a hurry.

No the US does not have producer cars and they don't need them. The railways hardly spot cars to the elevators with less than 100 car spots. They have substantially more domestic usage for grain than we do in Canada and although they have big grain handling companies, they are regional and there are many, many more independant companies and farm coops. The large export companies that the train loaders in ND, MN and MT ship grain to don't have 50 or 60 of thier own elevators in the US so they need to buy from other companies and independants. No independant company is going to build something in western Canada and expect to ship it through Vancouver. There are no independant terminals there and no independant terminals because there are no independant elevator companies to speak of to originate grain.

Some of you think that grain companies sit back and collect profits off the backs of farmers. That is the leftist, non-entrepreneurial way of thinking of things. If you want the service of a grain elevator, there are costs assiciated with it and those who want the business will invest in facilities to get the business. Rail costs over $1,000,000 per mile to build. Elevators in Canada with 1.5 to 2 million bushels capacity cost an upward of $30 to $40 million to build. Not many people can do that.

The railways have service agreements with the automotive, oil, coal and container shipment industries. IF the railway falls behind they have penalties. There are no such penalties for the railways at this point to offer the type of service to the grain industry. We have to pay their demurrage bill if we don't load the cars in 24 hours even though they don't pull the cars in three weeks. They need some skin in the game.

[blackpowder]

Phew! Good job.