Dale,
"Force Majeure" in the terms of a legal contract can be invoked if
one party's ability to perform has been hindered by a force beyond
their control, in other words, an "Act of God".
See:
http://today.reuters.com/business/newsArticle.aspx?type=basicIndustries&storyID=nN28209871
Note that whatever Schwab report on BNSF you are referring to is not
accurate. BNSF has not made any statement in that respect, it has been
UP all along. FWIW, UP may be the largest Railroad in mileage but BNSF
has passed them in revenue.
UP's public statements on the issue all along have either blamed BNSF
or God for their problems. This is the sign of a Company with rather
weak Management. We can take this and break it down into parts.
How often is a derailment an "Act of God"? We might be able to blame
a couple here and there on tornados or downbursts but I have no
knowledge of any such incidents on the Joint Line this year. Derailments
are either failures in technology or in the application of technology
to the transportation process. A broken rail or a burned off journal
can not be blamed on providence, even though it is a tempting avenue to
take. If any actual washouts or such actually occurred one would think
that these indicate an unwillingness to properly apply technology. If
common sense and good engineering says you need a ten span bridge and
you only budget and build a four span bridge then nature will bite you
back some day. With everything involved being built in the 80's or
later it is hard to justify under-engineering.
I see no mention of any of the Capital Improvement projects on the Joint
line that were scheduled for this summer. These are obviously planned in
advance and any good Manager should be able to work around them. The only
thing that I have heard from BNSF Management is that everything is getting
done on schedule and that the work done this year should increase capacity.
Most of these projects were on the Southern portion of the line and are of
more benefit to UP than BNSF.
As far as I know empty sets are being delivered to the mines at the same
pace as their loading operations require. There may be times when BNSF
sets are being loaded in preference but the usual root cause there is the
UP's habit of fleeting empties in one big line and having all the crews run
out of time. From Shawnee Jct to Converse is, I think, all triple track now
and often one track is end to end with UP empties, most without crews.
I can tell you this. Coal Transportation Contracts are filled with clauses
that allow either party to back out of what appear to be binding obligations.
The UP's use of "Force Majeure" is, to the best of my knowledge, the first
time that anyone has used that as an excuse.
At least on the BNSF, coal traffic is moving at normal and planned volumes.
There is only one power plant on my territory and they only have two sets
in service. They have a monthly limitation in their purchase contract based
on volume. Most months this year they have had to hold back one or both of
their sets the last few days of the month to keep from exceeding their
purchase volume.
Russ
----- Original Message -----
From: Dale Reeves
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, 29 November, 2005 18:29
Subject: Re: [CBQ] current BNSF operations
Schwab report on BNSF (BNI) has to do with storm damage which has disrupted
coal-hauling operations on BNSF (and also UP). Speaks about the two RRs
trying to disclaim responsibility for delivery delays based on "Act-of-God"
causes. The report uses to the term "force majeure" repeatedly. Something
I've never heard of.. (Just curious).
Dale Reeves
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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