Canadian Pacific eyes “total transportation solutions” to create growth

CP’s “live” lift at Portal, N.D., will eliminate non-targeted containers from being delayed during border crossing.

Canadian Pacific

Canadian Pacific is praising its sales and marketing team for generating new opportunities and driving growth by focusing on customer service and a willingness to identify and implement total transportation solutions.

“We have a proven operating model, the shortest routes in key markets and are now making great strides in customer service,” said Keith Creel, CP’s president and CEO. “Over the last four years, a lot of work has been done to improve our cost structure and build a strong foundation for success. We are now well positioned to leverage CP’s safe, highly efficient and low-cost transportation model.”

CP says its sales and marketing team is building on the success of its grain franchise and the innovative Dedicated Train Program and remains focused on strategic improvements across all lines of business, with one objective: leveraging the total transportation product.

“We are now at an inflection point and are well positioned to grow the franchise, sell a competitive service and offer our customers a best-in-class, total transportation solution,” said John Brooks, CP’s chief marketing officer. “CP delivers safely and efficiently from A to Z, but now by collaborating closely with our customers and actively listening, we better understand their needs and are taking action to strengthen our total product in the marketplace.”

The North American Class 1 point to two recent initiatives that highlight what it calls its innovative approach to enhancing its customer experience through offering a more reliable total product and extending its market reach.

First, CP is making the single largest purchase of gensets in railroad history with an order for 41 new gensets equipped with the latest telematics and most fuel efficient technology available in the marketplace, to be delivered throughout the remainder of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018. With this investment, CP is expanding its protective and perishable service (PPS) product for its customers to serve a growing segment of the transportation market. CP says this significant investment in gensets will allow it to launch more transcontinental genset train starts from the ports of Vancouver and Montreal than any other Class 1 railroad, providing its customers the most frequent, reliable and environmentally friendly PPS service on the market, all supported by an unparalleled telematics package providing the assurance of real time cold-chain security.

Second, a new “live” lift at Portal, N.D., was successfully opened in May. Portal is the border crossing for CP’s intermodal traffic moving between Western Canada and the U.S. Midwest. The new service allows CP to lift single containers off of trains for inspection by Canadian and U.S. authorities as opposed to having entire intermodal cars set-off, which could hold three or more containers. CP says this investment will virtually eliminate non-targeted containers from being delayed at the border crossing.

“Simply put, we have fixed the engine and are now focused on sustainable growth and best serving our customers,” Creel said.