The Canadian National Railway Company (CN) and the Indiana Rail Road Company (INRD) announced Wednesday an agreement on the construction of an intermodal terminal in Indianapolis and their plan to offer Indiana importers and exporters an all-rail option for containerized products moving to/from Asia.
CN serves the Port of Vancouver, British Columbia, and the Port of Prince Rupert, B.C., and a wide range of container shipping lines that offer scheduled service from all major Asian ports. "CN is pleased to enter into this partnership with the Indiana Rail Road," said Jean-Jacques Ruest, CN executive vice-president and chief marketing officer. "This all-rail service will reduce transit times and improve transportation consistency for Indiana importers, making their supply chains more competitive. CN's level-of-service agreements with the container terminal operators at Vancouver and Prince Rupert deliver superior fluidity from ship-to-rail at the ports."
The new Indianapolis terminal is under construction and will be located at INRD's existing Senate Avenue Terminal, strategically located in downtown Indianapolis. It will be complemented by a container yard and will start receiving empty containers June 15, 2013. CN estimates containerized import goods will flow in as little as 18-20 days from port loading in Shanghai and Qingdao, China, and Busan, Korea, to the INRD Senate Avenue Terminal, when using first port of call service.
