Canadian rail strike threatens auto supply chains

The automotive industry has some of the world’s most complex supply chains, with a single model often involving as many as 30,000 parts from numerous players across several different countries. If one link in that chain breaks, the whole assembly process can grind to a halt. That’s what players across North America are now worried could happen if a labour dispute at two key Canadian railroads is not resolved quickly.

Canada’s two major freight railroads — Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Southern—halted operations on 22 August following a stalemate in contract negotiations with the Teamsters union. As of now, nothing is moving on these lines. Nearly one-third of the freight that they carry crosses the US-Canada border, and the dispute threatens to disrupt operations across numerous industries.