Strong Month for Canadian Railways

OTTAWA - Jul 25/06 - SNS -- Canadian railways had their best month in six years in May, carrying 24.7 million metric tons (MT) of cargo, slightly above the 24.3 million MT carried in May 2005, and well above the 21.5 million MT carried in May 1999, according to Statistics Canada.

Loadings in May were up 3.2% from 24.0 million MT the month before, rebounding from a 4.4% decline between March and April.

Loadings of coal and iron ore alone accounted for just under one-quarter of all the rail cars needed to handle the non-intermodal portion of goods loaded on rail in May.

Combined loadings of all minerals accounted for more than one-third of all carloadings. Wood and paper commodity groupings comprised another 20%, while wheat and grains accounted for 11%, and liquid fuels and distillates about 5%.

In total, these broad groupings accounted for about 70% of carloadings, with the remaining 30% in various manufactured products.

More specifically, loadings of potash were down 36% from May 2005, even though they were still within the group of top five commodities. That represents a decline of just over 6,000 carloads.

On the other hand, other wood products, consisting mostly of plywood and various fabricated boards, have shown a consistent increase in the share of loadings. This was perhaps a reflection of the renovation and construction boom of the last few years.

Wheat loadings jumped 7.8% to 1.9 million MT compared with April, while loadings of automobiles and minivans rose 13%, boosting the total number of rail cars required to move them to just under 10,000.

Total non-intermodal loadings hit 22.3 million MT, up 3.3% from April. Intermodal loadings, that is, containers and trailers hauled on flat cars, increased 2.2% to 2.45 million MT.

Freight coming from the United States, either destined for or passing through Canada, reached 2.5 million MT, up 11% from April.

On a year-over-year basis, non-intermodal tonnage was 1.5% higher than May 2005. Intermodal loadings rose 2.5%, while traffic received from the United States remained virtually unchanged.