Rising U.S. Movement Offsets Slow Domestic

OTTAWA - Feb 26/14 - SNS -- Canada's railway industry carried 26.0 million metric tons (MT) of freight in December, virtually unchanged from the same month last year, according to Statistics Canada.

"The industry benefited from strong growth in shipments received from the United States, which helped to offset a decline in domestic shipments," the federal agency reported.

Rail freight originating in Canada and destined within Canada and other parts of the world decreased 1.6% to 22.8 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 loadings fell 2.1% to 253,000 carloads in December. The amount of freight loaded into these cars declined 2.0% to 20.5 million MT. The tonnage decline in shipments was brought on by a drop in the majority of the 64 commodities loaded by Canadian railways.

Partially offsetting the decline, however, were gains in fuel oils and crude petroleum (up 324 000 MT); other chemical products and preparations (up 177 000 MT); and fresh, chilled or dried vegetables (up 138 000 MT).

Intermodal freight loadings rose 3.7% to 153,000 units in December. The gain was spurred by increased containerized cargo shipments and trailers loaded onto flat cars. From a tonnage perspective, intermodal traffic rose 2.9% to 2.3 million MT.

Rail freight traffic received from the United States rose 12.7% to a high of 3.2 million MT for the month of December. Both non-intermodal and intermodal shipments increased during the month.