CN chugging through an improving economy

Canadian National (CN) Railway is chugging along very nicely on the backs of a strengthening North American economy and rising Asian demand for our resources, according to CEO Claude Mongeau, Canwest News Service reported.

"The recession was much deeper in the United States than in Canada," he said, "but the US economy is steadily improving while Canada is pulling well ahead."

He said CN is seeing a broad improvement in shipments of virtually all resource products, from grain, potash and metals to forest products, though "it's a bit uneven." On the manufacturing side, it is gaining from the comeback in Ontario's car industry.

Lumber is lagging because US demand is still low with housing starts at an annual 600,000 units, "but Western producers are selling more in China and other Asian countries and this could be a long-term trend."

He said a gradual uptrend in the value of the Chinese yuan, making Chinese manufactured goods more expensive in North America and Europe, could have a negative impact on container traffic through the two British Columbia ports, but "we think it would be minimal and a new balance would emerge."

(Source: Cargo News Asia)