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52-001-XIE |
Highlights
March 2006 and first quarter 2006Canadian railways recorded their biggest ever monthly increase in business in March as freight surged in almost every commodity category. Railways loaded 25.2 million metric tonnes of freight, up 4.0 million metric tonnes or 18.9% from February. Business usually increases with improved weather in March, which is also a longer month. But the gain this year was stunning. Railways carried an average of 812,000 metric tonnes each day in March, compared with 756,000 tonnes per day in February. All commodity groups except two were on the rise – ‘other’ cereal grains, consisting mostly of barley and oats, which have been on a downward trend since last November; and loadings of liquid propane gases which are strongly tied to the heating requirements of winter. Iron ore, wheat, potash, coal and lumber, historically regarded as the top five of the rail industry, had the biggest influence on the surge in March. Together, these five accounted for 55% of the 4.0-million-tonne gain. The non-intermodal portion of freight totalled 22.7 million tonnes, up 19% from February. About 284,000 railcars were required to ship all of March’s non-intermodal freight. Loadings of intermodal freight, that is, containers and trailers hauled on flat cars, amounted to 2.5 million tonnes, up 18.7%. This increase in volume exceeded by more than a full percentage point a similar growth pattern between February and March in 2001. Freight coming from the United States, either destined for or passing through Canada, followed the same pattern. Traffic jumped 19.8% to 2.5 million tonnes. On a year-over-year basis, non-intermodal tonnage was down 3.0% from March last year. Intermodal traffic rose 4.3%, while traffic received from south of the border was up 4.0%. On a quarterly basis, railways loaded 69.6 million tonnes of freight between January and March, down from both the first quarter of 2005 and the fourth quarter of 2005. The non-intermodal portion slipped 1.5% from the first three months of last year. The intermodal portion increased 1.5%, while the traffic received from the United States remained steady. For further information please contact Transportation Statistics, Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0T6 (Telephone: 1-866-500-8400, Internet: TransportationStatistics@statcan.ca). |
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