NORFOLK, Va. — The Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger will improve the competitiveness of U.S. ports by creating seamless service into the American heartland, the railroads’ chief executives told the Virginia Maritime Association this week.
UP CEO Jim Vena argues that Canada has an advantage over the U.S. because Canadian National and CPKC stretch from coast to coast and can provide single-line service into the U.S. Midwest. The Canadian railways, he said, move up to 10 trains per day of containers to the U.S. from Canadian ports, including Prince Rupert and Vancouver, British Columbia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Saint John, New Brunswick.
“They do that because they have a better model,” Vena said, according to a transcript Norfolk Southern provided of the executives’ Oct. 14 fireside chat at the Virginia Maritime Association International Trade Symposium…