A freight train line at the port of Piraeus, where Chinese shipping giant Cosco controls two of the three container terminals, is pictured on Friday June 20, 2014.Louisa Gouliamaki/The Associated Press
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. is bolstering its battered intermodal business by hiring an executive from Cosco Container Lines, the global shipping giant.
CP has lost some big intermodal customers to Canadian National Railway Co., and appears to be taking a big step toward winning new contracts in the business of handling containers that travel by ship, rail and truck.
Timothy Marsh will take the job of sales and marketing senior vice-president on Feb. 1, filling a job left vacant by the departure of Jane O'Hagan in mid-2014.
Mr. Marsh will lead a sales team that has recently lost the intermodal business of APL Ltd., Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, and Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd. in addition to Chrysler. CP has said it is happy to focus on domestic intermodal business, where the margins are better.
But the Calgary-based freight carrier has set a target to increase intermodal revenue by 12 per cent by 2018, part of a plan to reach $10-billion in revenue and to double its per-share profits. Reaching these goals will mean boosting sales across a range of business lines, including hauling containers to and from ships destined for overseas ports.
CP last year revamped its sales strategy with a new commission-based system designed to boost revenue and better link employee success with compensation.
Walter Spracklin, an equities analyst at Royal Bank of Canada, said having an executive focus on winning new contracts is essential to the company's goal of boosting revenue by more than 10 per cent within three years.
Mr. Marsh, who has an MBA in marketing from the University of Phoenix and 25 years' experience in the shipping business, will be responsible for "enhancing existing revenues, winning new business," and other duties, CP said.
"It is notable that Mr. Marsh's background is in international intermodal – a market where CP has lost significant share to CN in recent years. In our view, it is possible that CP may try to re-engage with ocean carrier customers with its improved service product and an experienced shipping executive at the helm of the company's sales and marketing division," Mr. Spracklin said in a research note.
Eric Atkins