Canadian Railways Haul More Freight

OTTAWA - Mar 3/05 - SNS -- Canadian railways carried 14 million metric tons (MT) of freight in 2004 than during 2003, according to Styatistics Canada.

Last year's decline in iron ore shipments because of a work stoppage in Quebec mines that cut iron ore tonnage by about five million MT was more than offset by increased coal shipments driven by a strong demand from Asia, and by rising shipments of wheat and cereal grains. Coal loadings halted a two-year decline in 2004.

Shipments of wheat and cereal grains went from 17.8 million MT in 2003 to 22.6 million MT last year with an improvement in weather conditions.

Other basic chemicals, potash, iron and steel (primary or semi-finished) all showed gains of more than one million MT compared with 2003.

In total, Canadian railways loaded more than 275 million metric MT of freight in 2004. Non-intermodal loadings totalled 248.7 million MT, up from 234.8 million MT in 2003.

Intermodal loadings, which consist of containers and trailers on flat cars, rose a moderate 1.5% from a year earlier to 26.6 million metric MT. This rate of growth was somewhat slower than in previous years.

Traffic received from the United States destined for Canada or passing through Canada back into the United States totalled 26.6 million MT in 2004, up slightly from 26.3 million MT in 2003.

On a monthly basis, loadings in December fell 7.0% from November to 23.0 million MT. Despite the December decline, which occurs each year, the fourth quarter of 2004 was the highest ending quarter of the last five years.

The non-intermodal portion reached 20.9 million metric MT in December and required 264,000 cars. This represented a 6.8% drop from November and a 14.5% increase from December 2003.

The intermodal portion fell 9.2% from November totalling 2.1 million MT. December 2004 and December 2003 tonnage was virtually unchanged.

Traffic received from the United States destined for Canada or passing through Canada back into the United States totalled 2.3 million MT in December, down 3.9 from November 2004.