What the @#$%^&. The regulators are becoming drunk with power.
Bruce
It’s the big bad railroads against the poor little farmer. You could make a DVD series and call it “Populism Run Wild.”
John Timm
Railroads are “common carriers” not private or contract carriers or an ordinary business. As such, a common carrier holds itself out to provide service to the general public without discrimination for the “public convenience and necessity”. A common carrier must further demonstrate to the regulator that it is “fit, willing, and able” to provide those services for which it is granted authority.
Oh, I have no problem with that, it is just that today they have announced legislation to come up with a solution to a problem I have never even heard of before. If RR’s are still being affected by winter weather issues, it should follow that it is still too wet for farmers to get out onto their land and therefore they would have no immediate need for fertilizer. It seems to me this is a problem that will solve itself in the fullness of time.
I think railroads boasting about their success in the crude-by-rail business has spooked every other user of rail service. Going forward, I think RR’s may be more circumspect about boasting about their successes in any specific commodity and have conversations more along the lines of carloads have increased or future trends look promising. Details would still be shown in the fine print of their financial reports.
Bruce
Maybe, if the Bureaucrats, on both sides of the border, would just wave ‘their magic wands’, and ‘Deem’ more crews, locomotives and cars for more trains to haul more stuff , everything would be all right. [:'(]
Of Course, as Bruce (Agent Kid) noted, the Winter is still happening in the Northern Plains. So the planting is delayed. An aspect that might come into play is that Inventories are taxed, so many suppliers have cut back over time to minimum inventories. Might it be that we have adopted to a (JIT) Just-In-Time World of deliveries, so end use of such expendable commodities, is beginning to effect outcomes? [2c]
So, once the railroads start favoring fertilizers as the farmers requested, they will scream that the grain isn’t moving fast enough. Or maybe they already are screaming in the Northern Plains, it’s just that up here we are deafened by the Canadian farmers.
John
Definitely screaming on the Northern Plains! And we’re perfectly willing for Canadian farmers to be served first, as long as ours can sneak in ahead of them.
So if I read it right, they are worrying about a product that has yet to be ordered, or paid for, or shipped yet?
We are reading about a solution to a problem that has yet to occur?
Did it occur to anyone that there is only X number of track and yard miles, and X number of cars, locomotives and crews available to move all products?
Is there any indication that the carriers can’t or won’t be able to deliver?
Let’s be clear about this: Per the article, all the railways have to do is report their plans to move fertilizer, and then what they’ve actually done for 6 weeks. There’s apparently no literal requirement to move more - or even any - fertilizer; instead, to just be honest about actual performance.
Of course, that turns spotlight on the issue, and may be a precursor to additional or future regulations or requirements, but for the moment it’s nothing more than merely an additional - albeit probably burdensome, too - reporting requirement (again, as per the linked article; I’ve not reviewed the actual order itself yet).
- Paul North.
…and, if they didn’t supply any fertilizer… then there wouldn’t be another bumper crop… and there wouldn’t be another shortage of grain hoppers this time next year…and the farmers wouldn’t complain? Signed -The Grinch
This seems Important so let us attach them, the bureaucrats, to this site and we shall provide all the “fertilizer” which may be needed.
No, kill two birds with one stone: go back to using horses in growing the grain; this should also satisfy the enviromentalists who do not want fossil fuels to be used.
That would be correct.
Further to my post of 2:30 PM yesterday, I can just picture the conference call to investors after the CPR’s 1st Quarter 2014 results are released next week. EHH will say, “I can provide you with no relevant information about our operations for fear it may provoke extreme overreaction in the nation’s economy and related Government Agencies.”
Oh man.
Bruce
STB should ask the trucking companies that put most of the railroads out of business.
I interpret this to mean that the STB is receiving complaints from shippers that the railroads are prioritizing their service in favor of certain shippers at the expense of others. I suspect that farmers have complained that railroads are prioritizing oil shipping over grain shipping, and are now creating a sense of urgency over the issue of whether the railroads will continue this discrimination by prioritizing oil shipping over fertilizer shipping.
Railroads can ship all the fertilizer the farmers need. Then the price of diesel spikes and the farmers will complain that the railroads are not shipping enough fuel. A common carrier has to provide the service they advertise, not the service the customers want! Didn’t we learn from the ICC that regulation of free enterprise will just destroy it. I hope the extra cost of this reporting is passed on to the farmers. They can afford it.
Question -
Has there ever been a ‘happy’ farmer?
There is ALWAYS somebody or something that is out to get them and their way of life.
The ‘guts’ of the STB’s Order - in full - from: http://www.stb.dot.gov/decisions/readingroom.nsf/fc695db5bc7ebe2c852572b80040c45f/ad4c55d3da22d5e985257cbb006e8cda?OpenDocument
(or: http://www.stb.dot.gov/decisions/readingroom.nsf/UNID/AD4C55D3DA22D5E985257CBB006E8CDA/$file/43754.pdf = 1-1/2 pages, about 10 KB electronic file size in this 'PDF" format):
"It is ordered:
1. CP and BNSF are each directed to report to the Board, by April 18, 2014, their plans to ensure delivery of fertilizer shipments for spring planting of U.S. crops.
2. CP and BNSF are directed to each provide weekly status reports over the next six weeks, beginning April 25, 2014, regarding the delivery of fertilizer on their respective networks. As part of these status reports, CP and BNSF shall provide fertilizer delivery data, by state, indicating the number of cars, shipped or received, which are billed to agricultural destinations, and the number of cars placed during each prior week. CP and BNSF shall also include
The Managers of the Railroads could stop hauling Ethanol and Genetically Modified Corn for producing Ethanol.
That deletion of service would give them the ability to move more wheat and fertilizer.
BNSF put its response on its website. Basically says “We will offer grain shuttle like service to customers who have the capability to use it.” Great answer.