CN, Grupo Mexico and 2 short lines launch America's Harvest service

A Canadian Class I, two Mexican Class Is and two short lines have teamed up to launch a new service for grain moving from the Midwest to points in central and southern Mexico.

The America’s Harvest service aims to offer a seamless, end-to-end process to grain shippers, from documentation and import/export compliance to final delivery, in order to reduce complexity and execution risk when entering or expanding into the Mexico market.

The service is provided by CN, Genesee & Wyoming Inc.’s (G&W) Huron & Eastern Railway (HESR), CG Railway LLC — which is jointly owned by G&W and Grupo Mexico Transportes — and Grupo Mexico’s Ferrocarrill Mexicano S.A. de C.V. (Ferromex) and Ferrocarril del Sureste S.A. de C.V. (Ferrosur).

The coordinated railroad partners work together to support commercial negotiations and adapt to customer trade requirements. The service will run from Kinde or Durand, Michigan, via HESR and CN to Mobile, Alabama, where CG Railway will ferry the grain to Mexico. Ferromex or Ferrosur then will move the grain to Mexico City or Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz.

From Michigan, America’s Harvest offers 15-day service to Coatzacoalcos; 18-day service to Orizaba, Veracruz; 20-day service to Puebla, Puebla; 22-day service to Mexico City; 26-day service to Celaya, Guanajuato; and 27-day service to Guadalajara, Jalisco.

The partners also offer single-point customer service, including one rail waybill, end-to-end shipment tracking, support for import/export compliance and management of rail-car returns to origin. Shippers can bypass congestion and access seamless cross-border operations due to customs pre-clearance, the partners said. 

For HESR, the launch of America’s Harvest underscores the short line’s commitment to customer optionality and growth beyond domestic markets, said Mark Nagy, HESR’s director of sales and marketing, in an email.

“Mexico represents a significant and expanding destination for U.S. agricultural products, and this new partnership enables shippers to reach those markets in a safe, efficient and cost-effective way,” he said. “By bringing together trusted partners across North America, HESR is helping ensure that Michigan-grown products move confidently from origin to consumption markets well beyond the U.S.”