Canadian Railcar Loadings Down in July

OTTAWA - Sep 25/13 - SNS -- Canadian railways carried 27.0 million metric tons (MT) of freight in July, down 1.8% from the same month last year, reports Statistics Canada.

Within Canada, combined loadings of non-intermodal freight (i.e., cargo moved via box cars or loaded in bulk) and intermodal freight (i.e., cargo moved via containers and trailers on flat cars) decreased 2.5% to 23.3 million MT.

Non-intermodal loadings fell 3.2% to 20.7 million MT as a number of key commodities saw decreased activity in July. These included iron ores and concentrates (down 293 000 MT), canola (down 192 000 MT), gasoline and aviation turbine fuel (down 114 000 MT), and coal (down 107 000 MT). Overall, 29 out of 64 commodities carried by Canadian railways declined during the month.

Despite the drop in loadings, a number of commodities reported strong growth in July. These included fuel oils and crude petroleum (up 164 000 MT), other chemical products and preparations (up 156 000 MT) and lumber (up 97 000 MT).

Intermodal loadings rose 4.1% to 2.6 million MT. The gain was the result of increased containerized cargo shipments and trailers loaded onto flat cars.

From a geographic perspective, the Western and Eastern railway divisions in Canada had mixed results in July. The Western Division, which accounted for 60.5% of domestic loadings, reported a 0.5% rise in freight to 14.1 million MT. By contrast, the Eastern Division, which accounted for the remainder of the loadings, registered a 6.7% decline in freight to 9.2 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 freight traffic received from the United States rose 2.9% to 3.7 million MT. The increase marked the highest amount of traffic received for a month of July and occurred on the strength of intermodal loadings, particularly containerized cargo shipments.