Dear Valued Customer,

The threat of a lockout Thursday morning is looming as labor negotiations deteriorate between the unionized rail workers of Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City railroads.

If a labor agreement is not reached by midnight of August 21 and a lockout does occur, cargo dwell times are likely to see a sharp increase, which could cause significant delays throughout the supply chain as the options to get cargo out of the port and delivered to its final destination will either be limited or severely compromised, as many industry leaders believe that any interruption caused by this rail lockout will be severe.

With that in mind, we strongly recommend that you reach out to your client solutions representative to begin preparing alternate strategies to minimize the impact to your cargo from this potentially harmful disruption. Additionally, importers with empty containers from any Canadian National or Canadian Pacific Kansas City facilities should return them prior to the proposed lockout date if possible.

OEC Group is closely monitoring the situation and will keep you informed as more information becomes available. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out to your client solutions representative for any questions you may have regarding this developing situation.

Thank you!

Sincerely, 

OEC Group