Cargo Business Newswire

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Top Story

Canadian Pacific pursues CSX for merger deal

The Canadian Pacific Railway has approached Florida’s CSX about a merger that would form a company worth more than $60 billion, insiders said Sunday.

The sources said that CSX was cool to the idea, so although the two big railroad operators have started to discuss the merger possibility, the outcome is uncertain.

Rail traffic is surging in the U.S. due to the shale gas boom, which is creating bottlenecks and delaying other freight.

Canadian Pacific has a market value of about $32.5 billion and rail lines across Canada and into the U.S. CSX, with as a market value of approximately $30 billion, controls a network of rail lines throughout the Eastern U.S.

Railroad consolidation is difficult. One big obstacle to the potential match would be getting it approved by U.S. Surface Transportation Board regulators.

Canadian Pacific has made a comeback over the last two years by trimming costs and improving efficiency under the leadership of longtime rail industry executive E. Hunter Harrison.

Because Canadian Pacific mainly runs in Canada, there is little overlap with routes run by CSX or other U.S. railroads, so a potential merger might be less of a concern from a regulatory perspective, a person briefed on the discussions said.

Canadian Pacific and CSX both declined to comment.

For more of the New York Times story: dealbook.nytimes.com

More Newswire stories

Port of Long Beach considers rate hike on non-container cargo

Hong Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa to invest in Panama port

Potash producers to make $140M investment in Port of Portland

Protestors try to block Zim ship at Tampa Bay

Today's Cargo News Archives