Canadians across the country mark Remembrance Day
Today Canadians will remember and honour the sacrifice of men and women in uniform who gave their lives in service of the country's values and principles.
Canadian National Railway Co. announced a new North American container shipping service Monday, upping its financial forecast for the year on the heels of record first-quarter revenues brought on by a bumper grain crop and higher oil prices.
Dubbed Falcon Premium, the intermodal service marks an agreement between CN, Union Pacific Railroad and GMXT, a Mexican railroad operator and metals miner. It connects CN's tracks, which stretch from Vancouver to Halifax, with the UPR line in Chicago and GMXT terminals several hundred kilometres north of Mexico City.
In a bid to match rival CP Rail's recent merger with Kansas City Southern, the deal also aims to nab customers south of the border from trucking companies with clients in auto parts, food, appliances and temperature-controlled products.
"How do we convert the Mexico business over from the road to intermodal?" asked chief marketing officer Doug MacDonald. "We need a consistent, quick transit time."
He said CN's new partners have shown they can persuade shippers to abandon trucks for railcars between Mexico and Chicago. "Now we're layering on top of that CN's network, where really there wasn't that product before. It's a brand new product coming into Eastern Canada, somewhat into Detroit and even into Western Canada.
"That's how we're going to take those trucks off the road, because they didn't have an alternative before," MacDonald said.
The agreement comes less than two weeks after the inauguration of Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd., which created the only railway stretching from Canada through to the U.S. and Mexico as North America's two smallest Class 1 railways merged.
CN maintained a sunny outlook Monday despite the CEO's expectation of a shrinking economy throughout much of the year, as volumes sag for shipping containers and some bulk cargo.
"Our current volumes reflect that we are in a mild recession. And we're uncertain about how deep or how long it will go on. But what we're modelling is negative North American industrial production for the full year," said chief executive Tracy Robinson on a conference call with analysts, warning of thinner margins for parts of 2023.
CN said it expected growth of adjusted diluted earnings per share in the mid-single digits this year compared to 2022, up from a low single-digit target set in January.
While grains, coal and metals were still moving healthily this month, weaker volumes for container shipments, lumber and chemicals and plastics pulled down overall haulage figures by six per cent in April as measured in revenue ton miles -- a key industry metric gauging how much a company makes per volume of freight transported -- said CN chief financial officer Ghislain Houle.
Retail and wholesale inventory levels have remained high across the country, reducing demand for CN container shipping -- its highest grossing segment -- with volumes dropping 13 per cent year over year last quarter.
"Lumber remains uncertain as commodity prices are still at low levels, and housing demand is still low due to elevated interest rates despite a significant shortage of homes on the market," said MacDonald said.
"Petroleum and chemicals production is directly tied to the economy, so we expect demand to be soft for most of the year."
However, fat grain yields and the soaring price of fertilizer amid Russia's ongoing invasion on Ukraine boosted CN's first-quarter revenue on the combined segment by 43 per cent year over year, returning it to the railway's No. 1 revenue earner among bulk products.
As overall volumes slip, the company plans to avoid cutting employees and focus on training locomotive engineers.
"We are not going to have a knee-jerk reaction and send people home while we have the mild recession," Houle said.
CN reported revenues of $4.31 billion for the quarter ended March 31, a 16 per cent boost from $3.71 billion a year earlier.
Net income jumped to $1.22 billion in its first quarter from $918 million in the same period last year.
On an adjusted basis, diluted earnings increased 38 per cent to $1.82 from $1.32 a year ago, beating analyst expectations of $1.72 per share, according to financial data firm Refinitiv.
On Monday, the company's board approved a second-quarter dividend of 79 cents per common share, to be paid after markets close on June 30.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2023.
Today Canadians will remember and honour the sacrifice of men and women in uniform who gave their lives in service of the country's values and principles.
Two nephews of the beloved Harry R. Hamilton share stories about his life and legacy.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says that Tom Homan, his former acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, will serve as "border czar" in his incoming administration.
Researchers are uncovering deeper insights into how the human brain ages and what factors may be tied to healthier cognitive aging, including exercising, avoiding tobacco, speaking a second language or even playing a musical instrument.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 2022 Dobbs decision eliminated the federal right to abortion, miscarriage management has become trickier and in some cases, deadlier.
The union representing some 1,200 dockworkers at the Port of Montreal has overwhelmingly rejected a deal with their employers association.
Rod Ashby was desperate to find his wife Kim Ashby after their newly built home in Elk Park, North Carolina, was swept away by Hurricane Helene鈥檚 floodwaters in late September and she went missing.
It was the first time that Canadian UN peacekeeper Michelle Angela Hamelin said she came up against the raw emotion of a people so exasperated with their country's predicament.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik to be UN ambassador.
A congestion crisis, a traffic nightmare, or unrelenting gridlock -- whatever you call it, most agree that Toronto has a congestion problem. To alleviate some of the gridlock, the Ontario government has announced it plans to remove bike lanes from three major roadways.
For the second year in a row, the 鈥楪ift-a-Family鈥 campaign is hoping to make the holidays happier for children and families in need throughout Barrie.
Some of the most prolific photographers behind CTV Skywatch Pics of the Day use the medium for fun, therapy, and connection.
A young family from Codroy Valley, N.L., is happy to be on land and resting with their newborn daughter, Miley, after an overwhelming, yet exciting experience at sea.
As Connor Nijsse prepared to remove some old drywall during his garage renovation, he feared the worst.
A group of women in Chester, N.S., has been busy on the weekends making quilts 鈥 not for themselves, but for those in need.
A Vancouver artist whose streetside singing led to a chance encounter with one of the world's biggest musicians is encouraging aspiring performers to try their hand at busking.
Ten-thousand hand-knit poppies were taken from the Sanctuary Arts Centre and displayed on the fence surrounding the Dartmouth Cenotaph on Monday.
A Vancouver man is saying goodbye to his nine-to-five and embarking on a road trip from the Canadian Arctic to Antarctica.