-
In May 2003, loadings on Canadian railways (excluding intermodal
loadings) totalled 248,000 rail cars and 19.3 million metric tonnes,
an 11.8% drop in tonnage from May 2002.
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Tonnage decreased 3.2% from April to May 2003. Potash, wheat
and other non-metallic minerals, and crushed stone were the most
important contributors to this decrease, and more than offset the
increases of iron ores and cement.
The top five commodity groupings, metric tonnes and rail cars
| Commodity Grouping |
Millions of tonnes |
|
Commodity Grouping |
Thousands of rail cars |
| Coal |
2.8 |
|
Iron ores and concentrates |
29.4 |
| Iron ores and concentrates |
2.7 |
|
Coal |
28.1 |
| Potash |
1.2 |
|
Lumber |
13.9 |
| Lumber |
1.1 |
|
Potash |
12.9 |
| Wheat |
1 |
|
Wheat |
11.5 |
These top five groups of commodities accounted for 46.2% of the May tonnage
and for 38.7% of the car loadings.
The cumulative tonnage of commodities loaded (excluding
intermodal loadings) in the first five months of 2003 reached 94.3
million metric tonnes, compared to 102 million tonnes in 2002.
Loadings for intermodal traffic, that is "containers-on-flat-cars" (C.O.F.C.)
and "trailers-on-flat-cars" (T.O.F.C.), increased 11.7%
from the same period of 2002. A little less than 2.4 million metric
tonnes of intermodal cargo were loaded in May 2003, up 6.1% from
April.
Loadings originating from the United States reached 2.7
million metric tonnes, up 7% from April. The cumulative total calculated
for the first five months of 2003 amounted to 12.8 million metric
tonnes.
The noteworthy increase of 496% in loadings of prepared
foodstuff was a result of the supplies sent to support military
activities in Afghanistan.
