SEVERE weather in central and western Canada in the past week has wrought havoc on railway operations and further undermined progress in reducing a large backlog at Vancouver's biggest container terminal, writes Leo Ryan.

Grounded boxes at dock on Friday at Deltaport remained at about 5,200, a similar level to a week earlier although an improvement over the worst backlog of more than 7,000 in January.

The prolonged disruption is being watched with rising apprehension by Canadian importers and exporters.

'Delays on the rail systems are especially causing problems for the big retailers,' Bob Ballantyne, president of the Canadian Industrial Transportation Alliance, told Lloyd's List.

'The delays in rail coming out have not changed a lot unfortunately,' confirmed Brian Yamaguchi, the Vancouver Port Authority's manager of trade development.

'The gateway is not at capacity and all parties are continuing to work together to seek options that will utilise all gateway facilities.

Vancouver port officials recently indicated it may take most of February to clear the backlog.

Port operations were severely hampered after the worst storms in 20 years struck Canada's west coast around Christmas.

Meanwhile, additional rail equipment is being delivered to Deltaport when available and CN and Canadian Pacific Railway are accepting import reefers and dry boxes at their intermodal facilities.

Other inland facilities are handling rail traffic and hours of operation are being expanded at Deltaport to facilitate truck movements.

Further vessel diversions to regional terminals are contemplated while shippers are reviewing anticipated import volumes and rail supply to measure how long the backlog will continue.