Railways Handled More Freight in November

OTTAWA - Jan 29/14 - SNS -- Canada's railways handled 8.4% more freight in November than the year before, according to Statistics Canada, with the total handle reaching 29.7 million metric tons (MT).

"Among the strongest factors contributing to this growth was increased demand for iron ores and concentrates," Statistics Canada reported.

Rail freight originating in Canada and destined within Canada and other parts of the world rose 9.1% to 26.4 million MT. These shipments are composed 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).

Non-intermodal freight carried by Canadian railways rose 7.9% to 293,000 carloads in November. The amount of freight loaded into these cars increased 9.7% to 23.8 million MT. Although iron ores and concentrates saw the largest gain in tonnage loadings (up 565 000 MT), several other commodities also saw strong growth during the month. These included coal (up 369 000 MT), fuel oils and crude petroleum (up 368 000 MT) and wheat (up 366 000 MT).

Intermodal traffic was up in November, as the combined number of units of containers and trailers shipped rose 4.6% to 171,000. The tonnage of these units increased 3.7% to 2.6 million MT.

Rail traffic coming from the United States rose 3.3% in November to 3.3 million MT. The increase in shipments was brought on by robust growth of intermodal containers, which rose 40.4% to 226 000 MT. The number of these containers also increased, with units up 23.9% to 14,000.