CN Rail president and CEO Jean-Jacques Ruest speaks during a business luncheon in Montreal on April 25, 2019.Canadian National Railway Co’s chief executive on Wednesday said crude-by-rail shipments may help earnings during the first three months of 2020, despite softer market conditions overall.
“This year, crude by rail still hasn’t got its traction, which it may early year,” CN CEO JJ Ruest said at the Credit Suisse Industrials Conference.Crude by rail may actually affect “our first quarter positively,” he added, given a possible rise in production next year. “We have the capacity, especially out west,” said Ruest, adding the railroad would also be able to move higher grain shipments.
Ruest said CN had not lost business permanently because of the work stoppage, the biggest Canadian rail strike in a decade, but some business had to find its way to customers through other modes of transport.