Rail Traffic Jumps in May

OTTAWA - Jul 31/13 - SNS -- Steep increases in domestic rail movement offset declines in shipments to the United States in May, with the result the tonnage handled by Canadian railways increased 12.9% to 29.3 million metric tons (MT), according to Statistics Canada.

Within Canada, combined loadings of non-intermodal freight (that is, cargo moved via box cars or loaded in bulk) and intermodal freight (that is, cargo moved via containers and trailers on flat cars) rose 15.5% to 26.0 million MT. The volume of domestic tonnage loaded marks the highest amount for the month of May since 1999.

Non-intermodal loadings rose 15.9% to 23.3 million MT. The gains were widespread as higher loadings were reported in 45 of the 64 commodity groups. Leading the way were commodity loadings of iron ores and concentrates (up 562 000 MT), fuel oils and crude petroleum (up 468 000 MT), potash (up 385 000 MT), and coal (up 367 000 MT). Shipments related to fuel oils and crude petroleum and potash represent record haulages for the month of May.

Intermodal loadings rose 12.3% to 2.7 million MT. The increase was tied to gains in both containerized cargo shipments and trailers loaded onto flat cars.

From a geographic perspective, both the Western and Eastern railway divisions in Canada saw increased loadings in May. The Western Division, which accounted for 58.5% of the domestic freight loadings, rose 17.9% from the same month in 2012 to 15.2 million MT. The Eastern Division accounted for the remainder of the loadings and increased 12.2% to 10.8 million MT. For statistical purposes, cargo loadings from Thunder Bay, Ontario, to the Pacific Coast are classified to the Western Division while loadings from Armstrong, Ontario, to the Atlantic Coast are classified to the Eastern Division.

Rail traffic received from United States connections fell 3.9% to 3.3 million MT. The decrease in traffic was spurred by a drop in non-intermodal loadings.