With surging demand for consumer goods and growing congestion at many US gateways, CN has partnered with steamship lines and the DP World Fairview Container Terminal at the Port of Prince Rupert to provide customers with fluid and predictable supply chain solutions to get to market. Through CN’s priority train service, high demand goods can get from Shanghai to key markets in Canada and the US faster than any other industry offering.
Thanks to low congestion at the port and strong terminal fluidity, the Port of Prince Rupert offers a strategic advantage to shippers. This deep-water port is located 500 nautical miles closer to Asia than any other west coast gateway, enabling faster transit times while also offering benefits such as berthing on arrival and industry-leading low dwell times.
Through this expedited offering, shippers are able to meet the growing demands of today’s consumers by getting their goods to market faster and more efficiently. It is also a true collaboration success story among multiple supply chain stakeholders. Partnering ocean carriers work at point of origin to ensure that subscribed containers are both easily accessible and stowed together on the vessel. During offloading at the port, the terminal operator expedites the movement of priority train destined containers from the ship to rail. With a fluid on-dock operation containers move from ship to rail in under 12 hours.
From there the containers make their way across CN’s unparalleled network to key markets across Canada and the United States, leveraging the network velocity to expedite all shipments with zero train stops.
Advantages
- Seamless border crossing
- Single carrier access to key markets in Canada and the US Midwest
- CN’s industry-leading fuel efficiency
CN’s first priority train to Chicago was completed in early September in partnership with the COSCO CEN Service. The CSCL Summer berthed at the Port of Prince Rupert on September 13, 2021 with the priority train departing early the next day. As a result of the velocity and fluidity of CN’s rail network, this priority train was able to arrive in Chicago a full 12 hours ahead of schedule on Saturday, September 18, 2021.
The priority train from Prince Rupert to Chicago is now a weekly service and has reduced the average transit time from Shanghai to Chicago from approximately 30 days (via US gateways) to 17 days.
On October 29th with the arrival of XIN CHONG QING in Prince Rupert, CN introduced our inaugural priority train service from the Port of Prince Rupert to Toronto enabling a streamlined import solution of goods to Canadian consumers. With supply chain delays impacting customer buying cycle periods, the priority train service will allow for a more reliable and consistent transportation solution between Asia and Central Canada
To find out how you can take advantage of CN’s priority train service to get your goods to market faster, please contact your preferred steamship line customer contact..
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