TORONTO, Ont. – Clarke Inc. and Canadian National (CN) have launched a new third-party logistics joint venture they claim offers shippers seamless rail and over-the-road freight transportation and logistics services throughout North America.

The stand-alone joint venture, Clarke Logistics Inc. (CLI), allows CN to offer shippers one-stop-shopping for freight shipments to and from points in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico that extend beyond its rail network and require over-the-road transportation.

The joint venture gives Clarke a significant presence in domestic U.S. freight markets, and strengthens its existing intermodal and highway brokerage business between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

“Clarke, on its own, has a significant truck brokerage business in transborder markets, with offices throughout North America,” says Douglas Payne, Clarke Logistics’ senior vice-president. “Now, CLI offers us a tremendous opportunity to expand our customer base in domestic U.S. markets and to provide existing customers new market reach.”

Clarke holds an 80 per cent equity stake in CLI. CN’s investment in CLI consists of a 10 per cent direct interest and a 10 per cent indirect stake through Transci Transportation Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CN.

Transci provides over-the-road services to a large customer base throughout the U.S. and has considerable expertise in coordinating highway transportation of intermodal trailers and containers.