CN opens logistics park in Calgary, lines up more crude oil business

CN on Tuesday opened the $200 million, 680-acre Calgary Logistics Park, which features an intermodal terminal and is located between ports in Prince Rupert and Vancouver, British Columbia.

The intermodal terminal, which was relocated from a yard in southeast Calgary, features 30 percent more capacity than CN's existing terminal. In addition, the terminal features four automated in-gates and three automated out-gates, a yard for storing international containers and specialized equipment for temperature-controlled products.

The Calgary Logistics Park's initial phase includes capacity to house about 3 million square feet of new warehouse distribution facilities. The park will offer access to all key distribution logistics services in one location; rail, intermodal, warehousing, distribution, and CargoFlo and Autoport facilities, CN officials said on a web portal devoted to the park.

Meanwhile, Tundra Energy Marketing Ltd. has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Enbridge to jointly own and expand a planned CN-served crude oil loading terminal near Cromer, Manitoba.

Tundra and Enbridge plan to build a terminal designed to load up to 60,000 barrels of crude into rail cars per day, providing interconnection with Enbridge's pipeline expansion in the Bakken Shale and Tundra's Manitoba gathering systems. To be operated by Tundra, the facility also will have access to trucked-in volumes and feature tank storage.

The terminal will improve market access for light oil producers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Canada, and North Dakota, Tundra and Enbridge officials said in a joint statement.

The facility will be completed in two phases. Under way and scheduled to open by July 1, the first phase facility will be capable of loading 30,000 barrels a day from trucks and Tundra's pipelines into rail cars. The second phase, to be completed in first-quarter 2014, will establish connectivity to Enbridge's pipeline systems and expand daily capacity to 60,000 barrels.