Even though CN and Canadian Pacific train service has resumed, the Port of Vancouver is still feeling the effects of the wildfires in British Columbia. At the time of writing, 41 ships were anchored in Canada’s largest port.
Trains resumed service on Sunday on a CP (NYSE: CP) rail route that had been closed due to the fires. According to a Vancouver Fraser Port Authority operations report, CN (NYSE: CNI) is using CP’s tracks under an agreement while its line is out of service.
According to port data, CN rail-bound imports spend more than a week on-dock at all of Vancouver’s terminals, indicating a significant rail backlog at the port. Since Sunday, trains passing through the wildfire-affected area of British Columbia have been subject to a Transport Canada delay order.
Meanwhile, owing to the train outage, the port has become increasingly congested. Five container ships were among the ships anchored on Tuesday.
The port administration stated, “Anchorage demand continues to be high and nearing full capacity.” “Currently, demand for large vessel anchorages outnumbers supply. Anchorages are assigned in such a way that flexibility is maintained across all ship classes while necessary services are maintained.”
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s representative declined to say further.
While the port authority hasn’t indicated when normal operations would resume, Maersk cautioned customers to expect delays of at least a week in a Friday alert.
The outage stemmed from a fire that killed two individuals in Lytton, British Columbia, in late June. The announcement came after a series of wildfires erupted as a result of the exceptionally hot and dry summer.
Authorities in Canada are investigating whether the fire in Lytton was started by a railway. Two teams from Canada’s Transportation Safety Board have been dispatched to investigate.
The backlog of CN and CP wildfires puts a strain on the Port of Vancouver.
Border officers in Canada are considering going on strike at a critical time for the supply chain and ports.
Canadian Pacific wants to establish a transload and logistics facility in the Vancouver area.
More Nate Tabak articles can be found here.
Pixabay image by Marina Hobbs
One of our external writers wrote the previous article.
It has not been modified and does not represent Benzinga’s perspective./n
