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Fall/Winter 2006
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Service Commitments Win New Business
Imperial Oil's tank car movements will now be supplemented with
intermodal containers.
 Imperial Oil has acknowledged the benefits of a good service package
by awarding CPR with a new three-year, multi-million-dollar intermodal agreement.
The deal calls for the railway to ship annually from 1,200 to 1,300 intermodal containers of packaged oils, or drums
of lubricant, between Imperial's pant in Sarnia, Ontario, and its facility in Edmonton, for widespread distribution.
It also includes the movement of 1,100 carloads of asphalt from Edmonton to the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
"Price was a driver, but our service offering was what clinched it," said Harry Carlson, CPR account
manager for marketing & sales intermodal. "We were able to assure the client that equipment and transit
times would be available consistently, and that all Imperial's business dealings with CPR would be coordinated through
one customer service representative."
Harry negotiated the new cross-functional service package with the help of colleague Jamie Hughes,
account manager for Imperial Oil's tank car movements. "The transition of the new business to CPR was
seamless," Harry said.
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Imperial Oil buys, sells, and trades
product.
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"Developing interpersonal relationships and creating a dialogue was a springboard to understanding the customers
needs and to securing both the current business and the new," Jamie added. Both Harry and Jamie spoke well of
their working relationship, and gave a nod to employees in a dozen different departments who helped them close the
deal. "There were a number of new processes and procedures to put in place, but we had plenty of assistance from
accounting, service design, asset management, customer service, and many other," Jamie said.
"It's been one of the most complex deals I have been involved with, in terms of satisfying Imperial Oil's
expectations and needs at their Sarnia and two Edmonton facilities. To move forward, it was a mandatory requirement
from Imperial that we successfully marry up the new intermodal business with an existing merchandise contract,"
Harry added.
Imperial Oil buys, sells, and trades petroleum products in bulk orders of more than 3 million litres ( 20,000 barrels
). Some products that are periodically available include gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, aviation products,
refinery feedstocks, heavy fuel oil, and petroleum coke.
With its recently extended range of lubricants, the high levels of quality and efficiency long associated with
Imperial Oil's Esso brand are strengthened by the expertise and innovation of its Mobil division. Customers now have
access - through one handy source - to the hardest-working, most extensive range of protection Imperial
has ever been able to offer.
CPR has been moving product for Imperial Oil and its antecedents for more than 100 years.
This Canadian Pacific Spanner article
is copyright 2006 by the Canadian Pacific Railway and is reprinted here with their
permission. All photographs, logos, and trademarks are the property of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Company.
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