Transport committee  Most definitely.

Transport committee  Again, the policy has to recognize—and I am sure it would—that short-lines are a means to an end. If you recognize that, then there will be times when there is stress on the system in terms of economic potential of a particular industry operating in a particular region. Sustained

Transport committee  Okay.

Transport committee  Yes.

Transport committee  When I say logistics challenges, there are three components: capacity, service and cost. These are the three challenges.

Transport committee  In terms of service—and I don't know whether this falls under the jurisdiction of this committee, I'm sure it does—our material is transported from the mine to the port through four different rail operators. They are common carriers so they are obligated to transport the material

Transport committee  Yes, that is one on service. The second on service is on the port side where, again, we are facing challenges. As I said, the Quebec government took a very important first step, but we have a long way to go in terms of having good service, good infrastructure and good facilities.

Transport committee  Thank you very much. I have experience working in Asia and Africa and have done some work in Europe, but to your specific question, I think, again, what we find, especially for mining projects, mining investments or economic activity related to mining, is that it's a chicken-and

Transport committee  As I was explaining, the infrastructure that is supporting the dock was owned by a private company and hence the access per se was blocked. Today the conversation has moved on from access to adequacy. Due to the unfortunate circumstance of difficult market conditions, the Quebec

Transport committee  Yes.

Transport committee  No, our iron ore is right now DSO. It comes from the mines in Quebec. It is exported by ships, yes, 100%.

Transport committee  We are in a ramp-up phase, so capacity going up will be about seven million to eight million tonnes.

Transport committee  Right now we are in a ramp-up phase, so, really, the question of unused capacity will come later. Right now we are, let's say, at three million tonnes, and it has to be ramped up to seven million to eight million tonnes.

Transport committee  An associated answer to that is that right now we have made short-term commercial arrangements with a private company, through a private board of IOC, and, obviously, that is not on good economic terms.

Transport committee  Yes.