July 26, 2023
Statistics Canada reports that Canadian railways transported 30.7 million tonnes of freight in May, down 5.0% compared with May 2022, and the first such decline in 12 months. Strong growth in carloadings of grain tempered the overall decrease.
The Federal Agency notes that despite this decline, freight traffic volume was just below the five-year average of 31.6 million tonnes for May. The monthly rail traffic drop was the result of lower volumes across all types of rail operations: non-intermodal, intermodal and traffic from US connections.
After 12 consecutive months of year-over-over increases, domestic non-intermodal freight loadings (mainly commodities) edged down by 2.0% to 24.1 million tonnes in May compared with the same month in 2022, led by a sharp decline in carloadings of iron ores.
Domestic rail intermodal shipments - mainly containers - originating in Canada declined for the sixth straight month, falling by 8.2% year over year in May to 3.1 million tonnes.
Loadings from connections with American railways declined for the ninth consecutive month in May, down 19.0% year over year to 3.5 million tonnes.