Canadian National Railway Company

CN Third Quarter 2020 Financial Results Conference Call will begin momentarily. I would like to remind you that today's remarks contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such statements are based on assumptions that may not materialize and are subject to risks described in CN Third Quarter 2020 Financial Results Press Release and Analyst Presentation Documents. that can be found on CN's website. As such, actual results could differ materially. Reconciliations for any non-GAAP measures are also posted on CN's website at www.cn.ca. Please stand by. Your call will begin shortly.

Thank you, Patrick. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for CN's third quarter 2020 earnings call. I would like to remind you about the comments already made regarding forward-looking statements. With me today is our president and chief executive officer, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Rob Riley, our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Keith Riordan, our Senior Vice President, Consumer Products Supply Chain, and James Cairns, our Senior Vice President, Railcentric Supply Chain. I do want to remind you to please limit yourself to one question so that everyone has the opportunity to participate in the Q&A session. The IR team will be available after the call for any follow-up questions. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to CN's President and Chief Executive Officer J.J. Ruet.

Well, thank you, Paul, and thank you everyone for joining us this evening. We hope you're enjoying a safe fall and making sure that all of your family is staying in good health. The economy recovery is underway. Looking back at Q2, the team acted very swiftly, thanks to our very engaged and adaptable CN railroaders. They are truly some of the essential services heroes of this pandemic. Q3 was a quarter of sequential recovery. The recovery is underway since the month of July. The operating matrix is improving. We brought many of our employees back to active service, and we had a train start. And kudos to the entire team for producing an operating ratio of 59.9. The recovery has a different mix of business. Some market recovered fast in V-shape. Some market have yet to recover. All of this involves evolving to a different mix of revenue ton mile as compared to the pre-pandemic, with a significant decline in crude and significant increase in Canadian grain. CN rail capacity is precious. and the team, as always, is proactively making decisions so the right value quality freight is on our network in the quarters to come and to ensure that we optimize the return of our investment in the business and our return to shareholders. We consistently target same-store price ahead of rail inflation, and we achieved that in the third quarter again. Our focus remains very much on the long-term strategy on the positive secular train that we intend to ride. For example, the growing North American consumer economy, the secular shift to East Coast trade, the unique cost and service mode of the Rupert Gateway. And all that while being very aware and preparing for the upcoming long-term disruptors like driverless truck and the battle for control of the freight sales by competing channels. On that note, I will pass it on to Rob.