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Yesterday, CN announced a transaction closed Monday through which it sold substantially all of IC RailMarine Terminal Co.’s assets on the east bank of the Mississippi River in Convent, La., to Raven Energy L.L.C. and the Cline Group for $73 million. CN expects to report an after-tax gain of about $35 million in the third quarter due to the transaction.

As part of the sale, the Class I entered into a 10-year rail transportation agreement with Savatran L.L.C. and the Cline Group to haul coal from four Illinois mines to the Convent transfer facility. Savatran plans to ship a minimum volume of coal annually that’s projected to reach 8 million tons by 2014.

CN directly serves five export coal terminals in the United States and Canada. Last year, the railroad moved 21 million tons of export petroleum coke, and thermal and metallurgical coal.

“With this partnership and the significant coal mine and terminal expansions already announced or planned along our rail network in western Canada, we hope to double our coal export volume over the next four years if trends of increasing global demand continue,” said CN President and Chief Executive Officer Claude Mongeau in a prepared statement.