Market participants relying on Canadian rail transportation for either trade or supply are becoming nervous that the expected Canadian rail strike will affect the US biofuel and glycerin markets.

Canada’s two largest rail networks, Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), issued lockout notices to the Teamsters union that would go into effect 12.01am on Thursday August 22.

The Teamsters also served notice to CPKC of their intentions to walk out at 12.01am Thursday, according to a report from logistics data company FreightWaves.

The interconnectedness of the North American rail network will undoubtably have an effect on rail operations in the US.

On Friday August 16, US-based Norfolk Southern (NS) — one of the biggest railroad operators in North America — sent out notice to all its customers that it “continues to monitor the potential work stoppage affecting rail traffic to/from Canada.”

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