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Supply-chain partners need to work more closely with CN to provide better end-to-end transportation solutions that would help mutual customers compete more effectively in end markets. That’s the message CN President and Chief Executive Officer Claude Mongeau delivered yesterday during the Journal of Commerce’s 5th annual Canada Maritime Conference in Montreal.

“A transportation system is as strong as its weakest link,” he said. "We're all only as good as the supply chains we serve. All the more reason, then, for all participants in the supply chains to work together more closely to deliver what our joint customers require.”

CN has a “vital interest” in greater collaboration with its port partners, said Mongeau. To that end, the Class I has instituted end-to-end shipment scorecards to “instill greater accountability for meeting customer commitments, and to identify and solve issues before they reach the ‘boiling point,’” he said. The railroad also has reached a series of supply-chain collaboration and service-level agreements with ports and terminal operators that specify performance targets and service measures, and call for balanced accountability among supply-chain participants.

“We can work together to help each container, each carload, and each box throughout the journey,” said Mongeau. “We can focus on one box at a time, from end to end, with a new level of reliability. It's time to build a transparent system, based upon mutual trust and the market solutions that have made all this possible.”