CN Closes Transaction to Acquire Rail and Marine Holdings of Great Lakes Transportation LLC.Business Editors MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 2004 CN (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :CNI) (TSX:CNR) today completed its acquisition of the rail and marine holdings of Great Lakes Transportation Great Lakes Transportation LLC is a group of transportation related companies primarily consisting of rail and water carriers catering to the needs of the steel making industry centered around the Great Lakes of North America. LLC (GLT). CN will now commence the step-by-step integration of two railroads and a rail switching company into its 17,500-mile North American system. The railroads are: - The 212-mile Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway The Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway (DM&IR) (AAR reporting marks DMIR) was a railroad operating in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin to haul iron ore and later taconite to the Great Lakes port of Duluth, Minnesota and Two Harbors, Minnesota. Company (DM&IR) - the Class II railroad A Class II railroad in the United States is a mid-sized freight-hauling railroad, in terms of its operating revenue. As of 2006, a railroad with revenues greater than $20.5 million but less than $277.7 million for at least three consecutive years is considered a Class II railroad. is a common carrier of pelletized iron ore in Minnesota and Wisconsin; - The Class II Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad The Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad (B≤ AAR reporting mark BLE) was an American railroad company operating in western Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio. The railroad's main route ran from the Lake Erie port of Conneaut, Ohio to North Bessemer, Pennsylvania, near Company (B&LE), which carries primarily coal, iron ore and limestone between the Lake Erie port of Conneaut, Ohio, and steel mills in the Pittsburgh area; - The Pittsburgh & Conneaut Dock Company (P&C Dock) - a Class III switching railroad that performs ship-to-rail and rail-to-ship bulk transfer operations for the B&LE at three docks at Conneaut. As part of the transaction, CN has also acquired Great Lakes Fleet, Inc. - a non-railroad company with eight Great Lakes vessels transporting bulk commodities, principally for the United States steel industry. Under a demise charter and vessel management agreement, Keystone Shipping Co. of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., will operate the ships. CN announced October 20, 2003, an agreement with GLT - a company controlled by The Blackstone Group - to purchase GLT's assets for US$380 million subject to regulatory approvals. All of the requisite approvals have now been obtained. E. Hunter Harrison E. Hunter Harrison (born 1944) is a Tennessee-born railroader who currently is the president and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian National Railway (CN). Life Born in Tennessee, he began as a carman-oiler at the Frisco Railroad in Memphis, Tennessee in 1964, , president and chief executive officer of CN, said: "Our acquisition of the GLT carriers is good for our network and good for our customers. CN will enjoy new efficiencies in network performance, and become a major player in the bulk commodities stream for the United States steel industry. "Western Canadian shippers will benefit from improved traffic flows in our NAFTA NAFTA in full North American Free Trade Agreement Trade pact signed by Canada, the U.S., and Mexico in 1992, which took effect in 1994. Inspired by the success of the European Community in reducing trade barriers among its members, NAFTA created the world's corridor between Winnipeg and Chicago. At the same time, the mining community in the Mesabi Range will have access to CN, a railroad with the financial wherewithal to invest in freight cars, locomotives, dock facilities and capital works that underpin a crucial supply chain for the steel industry." The acquisition of the DM&IR gives CN ownership of a key 17-mile segment of track in the Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., area, as well as a rail line parallel to its own line in the 64-mile rail corridor north of the two cities. This will improve CN's train dispatching in Duluth/Superior region and enable the company to avoid capital expenses it would otherwise incur for improvements to its existing line in the rail corridor. Canadian National Railway Company Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE: CNI, TSX: CNR) is a Canadian rail transportation company that operates the Canadian National Railway. It was created in December, 1918 as a Crown corporation of the Government of Canada to nationalize several bankrupt rail systems spans Canada and mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the Gulf of Mexico Noun 1. Gulf of Mexico - an arm of the Atlantic to the south of the United States and to the east of Mexico Golfo de Mexico Atlantic, Atlantic Ocean - the 2nd largest ocean; separates North and South America on the west from Europe and Africa on the east , serving the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the key cities of Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., Green Bay, Wis., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, St. Louis, and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America. |
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