Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (‘CPKC’) owns and operates the only freight railway spanning Canada, the United States (‘U.S.’), and Mexico.
CPKC provides rail and intermodal transportation services over a network of approximately 20,000 miles, serving principal business centres across Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. CPKC transports bulk commodities, merchandise freight, and intermodal traffic.
On April 14, 2023, CPKC assumed control of Kansas City Southern (‘KCS’) through an indirect wholl...
Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (‘CPKC’) owns and operates the only freight railway spanning Canada, the United States (‘U.S.’), and Mexico.
CPKC provides rail and intermodal transportation services over a network of approximately 20,000 miles, serving principal business centres across Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. CPKC transports bulk commodities, merchandise freight, and intermodal traffic.
On April 14, 2023, CPKC assumed control of Kansas City Southern (‘KCS’) through an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary.
Strategy
The company’s strategies include providing efficient and consistent transportation solutions for the company’s customers; optimize assets; and safely moves millions of carloads of freight across North America.
On December 17, 2024, CPKC announced the completion of construction of the new international railway bridge span over the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas, to Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, more than doubling CPKC's capacity to move freight across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Operations
The company has one operating segment: rail transportation. Although the company provides a breakdown of revenue by business line, the overall financial and operational performance of the company is analyzed as one segment due to the integrated nature of the rail network.
Lines of Business
The company transports freight consisting of bulk commodities, merchandise, and intermodal traffic. Bulk commodities, which typically move in large volumes across long distances, include grain, coal, potash, and fertilizers and sulphur. Merchandise freight consists of industrial and consumer products, such as forest products, energy, chemicals and plastics, metals, minerals, and consumer products, and automotive. Intermodal traffic largely consists of retail goods in overseas containers that are transported by train, ship, and truck, and in domestic containers that are moved by train and truck.
Bulk
The company's Bulk business represented approximately 35% of total Freight revenues in 2024.
Bulk includes the grain, coal, potash, and fertilizers and sulphur lines of business. Bulk traffic predominantly moves in unit train service, moving from one origin to one destination by a single train.
Grain
The company’s Grain business represented approximately 61% of bulk revenues and 21% of total Freight revenues in 2024.
The company's network is unique among railways in North America, as it is strategically positioned in the heart of grain-producing regions of western Canada and the northern plains of the U.S. The company also provides a service advantage, by way of its 8,500-foot High Efficiency Product (‘HEP’) Trains, including high-capacity hopper cars, which enables the company to efficiently serve farmers, shippers, and the entire grain supply chain. The 8,500-foot HEP Trains can move approximately 40% more grain than the prior generation of grain trains.
The U.S. grain transported by the company consists of whole grains, such as corn, wheat, and soybeans, as well as processed products, such as meals, feeds, and oils. This business is centred in the northern plains of the U.S. and the U.S. Midwest. The company moves the U.S. grain to facilities in Mexico, export terminals in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, and to various other destinations across the U.S. and Canada for domestic consumption.
Canadian grain transported by the company consists of whole grains, such as wheat, durum, canola, and pulses, as well as processed products, such as oils and meals. This business is centred in the Canadian Prairies (Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta), with grain shipped primarily west to the Port of Vancouver and east to the Port of Thunder Bay for export. Grain is also shipped to the U.S., eastern Canada, and Mexico for domestic consumption.
Coal
The company’s Coal business represented approximately 19% of bulk revenues and 7% of total Freight revenues in 2024.
In Canada, the company transports mostly metallurgical coal destined for export for use in the steelmaking process. The company’s Canadian coal traffic originates mainly from Elk Valley Resources' mines in the southeast region of British Columbia (‘B.C.’). The company primarily moves coal west from the mines, destined to port terminals for export to world markets (Pacific Rim, Europe, and South America).
In the U.S., the company primarily moves thermal coal from connecting railways, serving the thermal coal fields in the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming, which is delivered to power-generating facilities in the U.S. Gulf Coast and the U.S. Midwest. The company also transports petroleum coke within the U.S. Gulf Coast and Mexico.
Potash
The company's Potash business represented approximately 12% of bulk revenues and 4% of total Freight revenues in 2024.
The company’s potash traffic primarily moves from Saskatchewan to offshore markets through the Ports of Vancouver, Portland, and Thunder Bay, as well as to domestic markets in the U.S. Midwest. Potash shipments for export beyond Canada and the U.S. are marketed by Canpotex Limited (‘Canpotex’) or K+S Potash Canada. Canpotex is an export company jointly owned by Nutrien Ltd. and The Mosaic Company. Independently, The Mosaic Company, Nutrien Ltd., and K+S Potash Canada move domestic potash with the company primarily to the U.S. Midwest for local application.
Fertilizers and Sulphur
The company's Fertilizers and sulphur business represented approximately 8% of bulk revenues and 3% of total Freight revenues in 2024.
The company’s fertilizer traffic includes dry fertilizers, which are phosphate, urea, nitrate, and ammonium sulphate, and wet fertilizers, which are primarily anhydrous ammonia. Approximately half of the company's fertilizer shipments originate from production facilities in Alberta, where abundant sources of natural gas and other chemicals provide feedstock for fertilizer production.
Most sulphur is produced in Alberta as a byproduct of oil and gas activity. Sulphur is a raw material used primarily in the manufacturing of sulphuric acid, which is used most extensively in the production of phosphate fertilizers.
Merchandise
The company’s Merchandise business represented approximately 47% of total Freight revenues in 2024.
Merchandise products move in both mixed freight and unit trains in a variety of car types. Service involves delivering products to a wide variety of customers and destinations. In addition to traditional rail services, the company moves merchandise traffic through a network of truck-rail transload facilities, expanding the reach of the company's network to non-rail served facilities.
Forest Products
The company’s Forest products business represented approximately 12% of merchandise revenues and 6% of total Freight revenues in 2024.
Forest products traffic primarily includes pulp and paper, as well as lumber and panel products from key production areas in the U.S. Gulf Coast, B.C., the U.S. Southeast, Ontario, and Alberta to destinations throughout North America, including the U.S. Midwest, Mexico, eastern U.S., and the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Energy, Chemicals and Plastics
The company’s Energy, chemicals and plastics business represented approximately 42% of merchandise revenues and 20% of total Freight revenues in 2024.
The company moves energy products consisting of commodities, such as fuel oil, liquefied petroleum gas (‘L.P.G.’), gasoline, and other refined energy products. The majority of the company’s energy traffic originates in the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Alberta Industrial Heartland (Canada's largest hydrocarbon processing region), Mexico, and Saskatchewan. The company accesses key destinations and export markets in Mexico, the U.S. Midwest, western Canada, the U.S. Gulf Coast, and the U.S. West Coast. The company is a main transportation provider of refined fuels from the U.S. Gulf Coast into Mexico.
The company’s chemical traffic includes products, such as ethylene glycol, caustic soda, soda ash, chlorine, sulphuric acid, and other chemical products. These shipments mainly originate from the U.S. Gulf Coast, western Canada, the U.S. Southeast, and the U.S. Midwest and move to end markets in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and overseas.
The most commonly shipped plastics products are polyethylene and polypropylene. The majority of the company’s plastics traffic originates from the U.S. Gulf Coast, Alberta, and Mexico and moves to various North American destinations.
The company moves crude primarily from production facilities throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan to refining markets primarily in the U.S. Gulf Coast. The majority of the company’s crude is now moving as DRUbit, a sustainable heavy crude specifically designed for rail transportation and produced at an innovative facility known as a Diluent Recovery Unit, which enables the removal of diluent at origin. This technology enables the safe and economical transportation of crude and is cost-competitive with pipeline transportation. The company transports DRUbit on a single line haul from the Hardisty Rail Terminal in Alberta to Port Arthur, Texas.
The company's biofuels traffic originates mainly from facilities in the U.S. Midwest, shipping primarily to destinations in the U.S. Northeast, the U.S. Southeast, Alberta, and B.C.
Metals, Minerals and Consumer Products
The company’s Metals, minerals and consumer products business represented approximately 27% of merchandise revenues and 12% of total Freight revenues in 2024.
The company's metals, minerals, and consumer products freight revenues are generated from the transportation of steel, aggregates, food and consumer products, and non-ferrous metals.
The company transports steel in various forms from mills in Mexico, the U.S. Midwest, the U.S. Southeast, and western Canada to a variety of industrial users. The company carries base metals, such as aluminum, zinc, and lead. The company also moves ores from mines to smelters and refineries for processing, as well as delivers processed metals to automobile and consumer product manufacturers.
Aggregate products include coarse particulate and composite materials, such as cement, frac sand, sand and stone, clay bentonite, and gypsum.
Cement is shipped directly from production facilities in the U.S. Midwest, Alberta, Ontario, and Mexico to energy and construction projects in the U.S. Midwest, western Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The majority of frac sand originates at mines located along the company's network in Wisconsin and Iowa and moves to the Bakken and Marcellus shale formations and other shale formations across North America.
Food, consumer, and other products traffic consists of a diverse mix of goods, including railway equipment, food products, and large domestic use appliances.
Automotive
The company’s Automotive business represented approximately 19% of merchandise revenues and 9% of total Freight revenues in 2024.
The company’s automotive portfolio consists of finished vehicles originating from production facilities in Mexico, Canada, the U.S., and overseas imports arriving through the Port of Vancouver. Finished vehicles are primarily shipped to the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The company also ships machinery, automotive parts, and pre-owned vehicles. A comprehensive network of automotive facilities is utilized to facilitate final delivery of vehicles to dealers throughout Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. The company provides freight services to the majority of automotive plants in Mexico. In 2024, the company opened the CPKC Dallas Automotive Facility in Wylie, Texas, as part of the company's closed-loop rail service for Original Equipment Manufacturers to move vehicles to markets between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.
Intermodal
The company’s Intermodal business represented approximately 18% of total Freight revenues in 2024.
The company's intermodal freight revenues are generated from domestic and international movements. Domestic intermodal freight consists primarily of manufactured consumer products that are predominantly moved in 53-foot containers within North America. International intermodal freight moves in marine containers to and from ports and North American inland markets.
Domestic Intermodal
The company's domestic intermodal business represented approximately 55% of Intermodal revenues and 10% of total Freight revenues in 2024.
The company’s domestic intermodal business moves goods from a broad spectrum of industries, including wholesale, retail, food, and various other commodities. Key service factors in domestic intermodal include consistent on-time delivery and the ability to provide door-to-door service. The majority of the company’s domestic intermodal business originates in Canada, where the company markets its services directly to retailers and manufacturers and maintains direct relationships with its customers. In the U.S. and Mexico, the company’s services are delivered mainly through intermodal marketing companies. In 2023, the company launched the Mexico Midwest Express (‘MMX’) Series premium intermodal service to provide the first truck-competitive, single-line rail service option between the U.S. Midwest and Mexico.
International Intermodal
The company's international intermodal business represented approximately 45% of Intermodal revenues and 8% of total Freight revenues in 2024.
The company’s international intermodal business consists primarily of containerized traffic moving between the Port of Vancouver, the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas, the Port of Montreal, the Port of Saint John, and inland points across North America. Import traffic from the Port of Vancouver is mainly long-haul business destined for eastern Canada and the U.S. Midwest. Import traffic from the Port of Lázaro Cárdenas is primarily destined for Mexico. The company works closely with the Port of Montreal, a major year-round East Coast gateway to Europe, to serve markets primarily in Canada and the U.S. Midwest. The company's access to the Port of Saint John provides the fastest rail service from the East Coast to Canadian and U.S. markets for imports from and exports to Asia, Europe, and South America.
Government Regulation
The company’s rail operations in Canada are subject to economic regulation by the Canadian Transportation Agency (the ‘Agency’) pursuant to authorities under the CTA.
The company’s rail operations in Canada are subject to safety and security regulatory requirements enforced by Transport Canada (‘TC’) pursuant to the Railway Safety Act (‘RSA’) and the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act (the ‘TDGA’).
The company’s U.S. rail operations are subject to economic regulation by the STB. The STB provides economic regulatory oversight and administers Title 49 of the United States Code and related Code of Federal Regulations. The STB has jurisdiction over railroad rate and service issues, proposed railroad mergers, and other transactions.
The company’s U.S. operations are subject to safety regulations enforced by the Federal Railroad Administration (the ‘FRA’), and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (‘PHMSA’). The FRA regulates safety-related aspects of the company’s railway operations in the U.S. under the Federal Railroad Safety Act, as well as rail portions of other safety statutes. The PHMSA regulates the safe transportation of hazardous materials by rail. The company’s U.S. rail operations are also subject to security regulations and directives by the Transportation Security Administration (‘TSA’), a component of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Primary regulatory oversight of the company’s Mexican operations is provided by the Mexican Agencia Reguladora del Transporte Ferroviario (also known as Mexico's Railway Transport Regulatory Agency) (the ‘ARTF’). The ARTF establishes regulations concerning railway safety and operations, and is responsible for resolving disputes between railways and customers. Kansas City Southern de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (also known as Canadian Pacific Kansas City Mexico) (‘CPKCM’) must register its maximum rates with the ARTF and make regular reports to the ARTF and the Secretaría de Infraestructura, Comunicaciones y Transportes (also known as Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation) (the ‘SICT’).
History
The company was founded in 1881. It was incorporated in 1881. The company was formerly known as Canadian Pacific Railway Limited and changed its name to Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited in 2023.