We had a subcommittee that met with two administrators of producer cars. We also met with a shortline railroad operator and with a member of the producer-car shipping coalition. These four people all raised four main issues with our subcommittee. One of the issues was competitive access to transportation. I think you heard a lot of people talking about competitive access to transportation, and I think the rail freight service review and service level agreements that could be negotiated between the shipper and the railroad will solve that issue. We've discussed that.
Another issue they brought up was competitive access to the port. We've talked a little bit about this. Today the Canadian Wheat Board has relationships with port terminal operators, and they are one of the largest administrators of producer cars. So in future, the voluntary Canadian Wheat Board would have arrangements with port terminals and would provide the access for those producer-car shippers. Some producer-car administrators have existing agreements with terminal operators and are going to continue to work with them. So there are opportunities there.
Another issue they raised was the access to competitive third-party inspection at terminal ports. This is brought about because of the proposed modernization of the Canada Grain Act. They are concerned that the Canadian Grain Commission will not be at port terminals doing the inward grading and inspection of producer cars. They're worried that if a port terminal operator is doing the grading themselves, then they're going to be at a disadvantage. The legislation said that there would be third-party companies doing inspections, and there's also talk of having the Canadian Grain Commission provide that service. There's nothing decided at this time, although the task force did talk about the need to modernize the Canadian Grain Act. But today the Canadian Grain Commission is there and will be continuing to grade their grain.
The fourth issue that they brought up was competitive freight rates and multi-car incentives. They said they're not treated equally. We know from talking to the railways that there are arrangements with shortline railways such that when the railway is buying them they have agreements with regard to what the freight is and what will be charged. CN charges the freight from the junction to the destination, and the short line looks after the charges for freight from the junction to the loader. Companies, shortline railroads, could discuss this with CN. They could go and discuss with CP, if they have the ability to load 56 112-car unit trains within the 12- or 24-hour process as other companies can. If so, then I think CP and CN might be willing to discuss this.
As to the concerns that people have and the issues that they've raised, there are solutions to them. There are ways that we can continue with the new Wheat Board, voluntarily. They're going to be looking for grain and trying to figure out how to originate it, so it would be good for them to work with these producer-car shippers and shortline railways to continue to do it. The Canadian Grain Commission will continue to allocate producer cars.