Canadian Pacific gets early Christmas present from Maersk

A Canadian Pacific train at a yard. (Photo:: Flickr/Jerry Huddleston)

Canadian Pacific (NYSE: CP) will see the first vessel from vessel operator Maersk arriving into the Port of Vancouver in the first week of December instead of the original timeline of March 2021, a CP executive said Tuesday.

“We’re going to get a nice little boost from that business coming on early, and we’re quite excited by that,” said CP Chief Financial Officer John Brooks at the Scotiabank Transportation and Industrials Conference.

CP announced last month that it had secured a multiyear rail agreement with Maersk to move freight through the ports of Vancouver and Montreal. CP was initially scheduled to start moving Maersk’s dry and refrigerated cargo at the Ports of Vancouver and Montreal on March 1, 2021. 

CP also has an agreement with Maersk to build a transload and distribution facility that would service Maersk by shuttling the containers of Maersk’s customers to and from the ocean terminals at the Port of Vancouver. The new multicommodity transload facility would be an expansion of CP’s existing intermodal facility in Vancouver.

At the investor conference, Brooks described the new transload facility as the first new facility of its kind at the Port of Vancouver in years. The facility will help fulfill Maersk’s wish to become more integrated with its customer supply chain, Brooks said. 

“This transload space allows Maersk to bring in import goods, turn their empty boxes much quicker back to Asia or whatever country they need to return them to. It allows them to fill their boxes right at our terminal with exports — whether it be plastics, lumber, bulk — or send them back empty. We’ll have the scale to be able to rail directly off the port into the terminal, into the transload both directions,” Brooks said.

He continued, “It allows CP and Maersk to partner with a whole different world of customers that neither of us are doing business with and loading 53-foot containers at the transload, shipping them out either to distribution centers or directly to stores across both Canada and the U.S.”

Subscribe to FreightWaves’ e-newsletters and get the latest insights on freight right in your inbox.

Click here for more FreightWaves articles by Joanna Marsh.

Related articles:

Canadian Pacific seeks opportunities in its land holdings

CP, Maersk ink deal to develop Vancouver transload and distribution facility

Revenue decline dampens Canadian Pacific’s Q3 profit

Railways see untapped potential in Atlantic Canada ports

Upcoming FreightWaves Events
AI

Supply Chain AI Symposium

Past the hype. Join operators, founders, and enterprise leaders figuring out how to deploy AI in supply chain.

July 15, 2026
The Old Post • Chicago, IL
Register Now
FreightTech

F3: Future of Freight Festival

Industry-defining keynotes, rapid-fire technology demos, and industry leaders networking in experiences across Chattanooga - plus the inaugural F3 Awards Dinner featuring the FreightTech and Shipper of Choice reveals.

October 27, 2026 – October 28, 2026
The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN
Register Now
AI Supply Chain AI Symposium Jul 15 • The Old Post • Chicago, IL

Past the hype. Join operators, founders, and enterprise leaders figuring out how to deploy AI in supply chain.

The Old Post • Chicago, IL Register Now
FreightTech F3: Future of Freight Festival Oct 27 – Oct 28 • The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN

Industry-defining keynotes, rapid-fire technology demos, and industry leaders networking in experiences across Chattanooga - plus the inaugural F3 Awards Dinner featuring the FreightTech and Shipper of Choice reveals.

The Signal at Chattanooga Choo Choo • Chattanooga, TN Register Now

Joanna Marsh

Joanna is a Washington, DC-based writer covering the freight railroad industry. She has worked for Argus Media as a contributing reporter for Argus Rail Business and as a market reporter for Argus Coal Daily.