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Industry groups expressed concern about the shutdown as shipments to and from the U.S. and China are delayed or cancelled.

“It’s a real crisis,” said Joel Neuheimer, head of international trade with the Forest Products Association of Canada.

Wood, pulp and paper producers have lost tens of millions of dollars so far, he said.

“We ship massive amounts of pulp to the United States and to places like Asia, so big negative impacts there,” Neuheimer said in a phone interview.

“We have members whose customers aren’t placing orders right now in the U.S. because they know that it’s not going to get there as soon as it needs to get there.”

Olin Corp., a Missouri-based chemical maker with a facility near Trois-Rivieres, Que., cautioned Ottawa that its tight distribution schedule means the 50-odd Canadian companies it serves will soon stop receiving chlorine — used in part to treat drinking water — which it says is only shipped by rail.

“Olin is alarmed by the current freight rail situation in Canada, and we are concerned that customers and municipalities will not receive shipments of vital chemicals including chlorine within one week,” chairman and CEO John Fischer said in a letter to federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau on Tuesday.

Photo by Mike Hensen/The London Free Press/Postmedia Network

The Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Association, whose members typically load about 4,500 rail cars a day, is urging government officials to work with police to restore service on the tracks.