Commodity flows by mode in Canada: Canadian Freight Analysis Framework, 2016
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Released: 2019-03-15
In 2016, 67.6 million shipments were made by the air, for-hire trucking and rail industries.
For-hire trucking accounted for just over 9 of every 10 shipments. Rail represented 9% of the total, and air accounted for the rest, according to the Canadian Freight Analysis Framework (CFAF).
The CFAF is a database that provides information on commodity flows in Canada. In March 2018, Statistics Canada released 2014 data on shipments for the airline, for-hire trucking and railway industries, by type of commodity, weight and value. Today, Statistics Canada releases data for 2015 and 2016, as well as for the period from 2011 to 2013.
Each mode caters to a certain segment of the freight transportation market in terms of distance and type of commodity.
Chart 1
Average distance per shipment by mode of transport, 2011 and 2016
In 2016, the average shipment for the for-hire trucking industry weighed just over 12 tonnes, with an average shipment value of $34,836 and travelled a median distance of 635 kilometres. The top five commodities trucked by weight—minerals, general freight, fuel oil and crude petroleum, forest products, and agricultural products—together accounted for two-thirds (67%) of all commodities trucked by weight.
There were 7,578 shipments of minerals trucked from New Brunswick to Quebec in 2016. On average, these shipments weighed 25 tonnes and were hauled 686 kilometres.
In 2016, 51,559 shipments of general freight were trucked from Toronto to Halifax (a distance of 1,799 kilometres), with shipments averaging 2 tonnes in weight.
For rail in 2016, each shipment or rail car weighed an average of just over 47 tonnes and was transported about 2,175 kilometres. Agricultural products were the top rail commodity by weight, followed by plastics and chemical products, coal, minerals and forest products. Together, these commodities accounted for about 70% of the total weight moved by rail.
In 2016, over 123,000 rail cars of agricultural products, each weighing an average of 89 tonnes, travelled approximately 1,800 kilometres from rural Saskatchewan to Vancouver. Wheat accounted for just over one-third of these shipments by weight.
During the same year, almost 100,000 rail cars containing fuel oils and crude petroleum left Alberta for the United States.
Air freight tends to consist of lower weight and higher value products, such as perishable goods—like live lobster—or precision machinery parts. In 2016, each air shipment of freight weighed approximately 3 tonnes and travelled just over 2,100 kilometres on average.
Note to readers
The development of this framework was supported by Transport Canada. Showcasing Statistics Canada's strength and expertise in data management and Transport Canada's knowledge of the sector's information needs, the framework provides users with access to high-quality and timely data and statistical analysis that they can use to make informed decisions concerning the Canadian transportation sector.
Data on air freight for certain city pairs were suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act. As a result, data from the Canadian Freight Analysis Framework underestimate total commodity shipments by air.
Data for the for-hire trucking industry exclude trucking activities undertaken by businesses classified to other industries, such as manufacturing or retail sales.
For the air and for-hire truck industries, a shipment represents the movement of a single commodity from an origin to a destination. For rail, it represents the number of cars.
Data from 2014 have been revised.
Products
The Canadian Freight Analysis Framework (50-503-X) is now available.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
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