Port Metro Vancouver and CN enter into supply chain collaboration agreement to further improve gateway competitiveness

VANCOUVER and MONTREAL, May 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Port Metro Vancouver and CN (TSX: CNR)(NYSE: CNI) announced today a supply chain collaboration agreement to drive further efficiencies at the port and recognize the importance of balanced accountability.

The agreement sets the framework for the Port, CN and port stakeholders to develop mechanisms to define, measure, monitor and evaluate the performance of each participant at the port against established benchmarks. It also establishes processes to proactively communicate on service-related matters and resolve disputes between CN, the Port and port supply chain participants on a commercial basis.

Robin Silvester, Port Metro Vancouver president and chief executive officer, said: "I am pleased that we were able to work collaboratively with CN on this initiative. The agreement will help align port stakeholders' interests and ensure that each party is accountable for the optimal performance of the Vancouver Gateway."

Claude Mongeau, CN president and chief executive officer, said: "CN is encouraged that CN and Port Metro Vancouver reached this innovative pact through commercial negotiation. The agreement will focus stakeholders on working together to achieve continuous improvement in supply chain performance at the port."

Port Metro Vancouver and CN believe that supply chain collaboration is the best way to help increase Canada's commerce with the Asia-Pacific region, enlarge the Gateway's share of Asian containerized imports to North America, and improve Gateway competitiveness for Canadian and North American exports.

Port Metro Vancouver is Canada's largest and North America's most diversified port, trading $75 billion in goods with more than 160 trading economies annually. Port activities generate 129,500 total jobs across Canada, $10.5 billion in GDP and $22 billion in economic output.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information included in this news release constitutes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and under Canadian securities laws. CN cautions that, by their nature, these forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The Company cautions that its assumptions may not materialize and that current economic conditions render such assumptions, although reasonable at the time they were made, subject to greater uncertainty.

Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results of performance of the Company or the rail industry to be materially different from the outlook or any future results or performance implied by such statements. Important factors that could affect the above forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the effects of general economic and business conditions, industry competition, inflation, currency and interest rate fluctuations, changes in fuel prices, legislative and/or regulatory developments, compliance with environmental laws and regulations, actions by regulators, various events which could disrupt operations, including natural events such as severe weather, droughts, floods and earthquakes, labor negotiations and disruptions, environmental claims, uncertainties of investigations, proceedings or other types of claims and litigation, risks and liabilities arising from derailments, and other risks detailed from time to time in reports filed by CN with securities regulators in Canada and the United States. Reference should be made to "Management's Discussion and Analysis" in CN's annual and interim reports, Annual Information Form and Form 40-F filed with Canadian and U.S. securities regulators, available on CN's website, for a summary of major risks.

CN assumes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect future events, changes in circumstances, or changes in beliefs, unless required by applicable Canadian securities laws. In the event CN does update any forward-looking statement, no inference should be made that CN will make additional updates with respect to that statement, related maters, or any other forward-looking statement.

CN - Canadian National Railway Company and its operating railway subsidiaries - spans Canada and mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the Gulf of Mexico, serving the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the key metropolitan areas of Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., Green Bay, Wis., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, St. Louis, and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America. For more information on CN, visit the company's website at www.cn.ca.

SOURCE CN