Prince Rupert's coal strike has quietly turned into a rail story

The most honest number out of Prince Rupert right now is not a berth waiting time. It is a train count. RailState, which tallies rail traffic with trackside sensors, recorded 5.8 coal and petroleum-coke trains a week arriving at Trigon Pacific Terminals between 2 and 25 October, against 11.2 a week through August and September. That is a 48 per cent drop. In the same weeks of 2025 the count climbed from 12 to 13.1. Autumn is when Asian steel mills restock; this year the curve bent the other way.

Conuma Coal, the terminal's largest customer, went from 8.1 trains a week to 2.9. Read that alongside a second data point: three Conuma and Westmoreland trains showed up at Westshore Terminals in Vancouver between 18 and 25 October, the first time RailState has seen either customer there. Diversion is working, and it is expensive. A longer rail haul, a different terminal tariff, a berth queue nobody wrote into a laycan.

Trigon insists it is still unloading trains and loading vessels at a "base level" of service. It will not say how many people are on site or whether they are employees, contractors or somebody else. ILWU Local 523A has filed two complaints alleging replacement labour, on top of five other union complaints already before the Canada Industrial Relations Board. On 20 October the board unanimously dismissed Trigon's own complaint that the union had failed to bargain in good faith, which settles the legality of the stoppage and removes any hope of a quick legal route back to normal working.

The same rail loop carries more than coal. AltaGas loads propane at its Ridley Island export facility inside the Trigon track loop, moving Canadian LPG to Asian buyers. Before the stoppage, AltaGas ran roughly 975 railcars a week to Prince Rupert and 397 to its Ferndale terminal in Washington State — about 71 to 29. In the first three weeks of the strike the split moved to 805 and 686, or 54 to 46. That is a useful reminder that the American outlet is a relief valve, not a second main line, and it has a ceiling.

For buyers holding Canadian met coal, petcoke or LPG positions, the practical work is unglamorous. Confirm with your ship's agent whether a vessel allocated to Trigon is waiting or re-nominating to Westshore, and re-quote the inland leg rather than reusing last month's number. Treat "seller's option of loading port" clauses as live commercial terms, with written notice obligations attached. Spread fourth-quarter tonnage across more than one gate if your melt shop or kiln has a hard date.

Container shippers should stay calm but not asleep. Dry bulk and container terminals are separate operations, yet they share the CN corridor out of the coast, and a re-sequenced train plan feeds through to empty and laden box connections. Three to five days of buffer on peak-season bookings is cheap insurance. Yufeng International Logistics runs door-to-door and customs-integrated services on its Americas routes; enquiries to sales@ruixincargo.com.

Sources: Based on reporting by Trains (citing RailState rail traffic data), World Ports and The Northern View.