Peter T. Leach | Feb 03, 2011 12:50PM EST
The Montreal Port Authority and the two companies that operate the port's three key container terminals on Thursday announced two level-of-service agreements that are intended to produce supply chain efficiencies.
The two agreements -- one signed by CN, the port authority and Montreal Gateway Terminals Partnership, which operates the CAST and RACINE terminals, and another signed by CN, the port authority and Termont Montreal -- complement a framework agreement that CN and the MPA reached in September 2010.
Under last fall's agreement, CN and the port decided to develop a best-practices vision for the gateway's supply chain, improve productivity, and leverage these gains to increase their share of global container traffic.
The new agreements are similar to the agreements CN has been forging with other Canadian ports, including Prince Rupert and Halifax, and supply-chain initiatives targeting entire industries.
The CN-MPA-terminal operator agreements establish key performance indicators to improve the fluidity of the gateway. These include specific metrics for container dwell times at terminals, rail-car availability, rail on-time performance, and vessel performance.
"Clear, daily performance metrics will drive continuous improvement in performance and help expand the Port of Montreal's business," said Claude Mongeau, CN president and chief executive officer.
Sylvie Vachon, president and chief executive officer of the MPA, said, "Our new service agreements reflect the commitment of the port's key stakeholders to supply chain collaboration and to improved efficiency and productivity of our container processing systems."
Kevin Doherty, chief executive officer of MGT, said the establishment of a service-level agreement recognizes the interdependency of the businesses. "This co-dependency makes it imperative that we continue working collaboratively as we develop our services to our mutual clients."
Roger Carre, general manager of Termont Montreal, said the terminal and CN will both benefit from faster traffic flows as they continue to look for the next level of efficiencies in their joint operations.
-- Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com.
