52-001-XIE
Monthly railway carloadings
June 2004

Second quarter 2004 and June 2004

Canadian railways reported their strongest quarter for shipments in five years between April and June this year, with widespread gains in a number of commodities, particularly wheat.

In total, rail freight hit 72.8 million metric tonnes during the second quarter, up 10.0% over the first three months of the year, and 12.1% higher than the second quarter of 2003.

Total shipments were the highest since the first quarter of 1999.

Non-intermodal freight, consisting mostly of bulk commodities, accounted for 89% or 65.7 million tonnes, of the total, an 8.4% increase from the first quarter. About 791,000 railway cars were required to transport the freight.

Six commodities combined for an overall increase of 5 million tonnes: wheat; potash; other metallic ores and concentrates; coal; other non metallic minerals; and lumber. The increase in wheat alone was close to 1.4 million tonnes.

This gain was only partly offset by declines in gaseous hydrocarbons, fuel oils and crude petroleum; logs and other wood in the rough; fresh chilled and dried vegetables; and salt. These combined for a total drop of 1 million tonnes.

Loadings of intermodal freight, that is, containers and trailers hauled on flat cars, rose 11.9% to a record high 7.1 million tonnes.

Trailers appear to be on a downward trend compared to containers. Trailers on flat cars accounted for only 5.7% of intermodal traffic in the second quarter of 2004, down from the peak of 7.8% in the first quarter of 2003.

Traffic from the United States was up slightly in the second quarter. Tonnage reached 6.8 million tonnes, 2.0% higher than the first three months of the year.

On a monthly basis, railways handled 24 million tonnes of freight in June, down 1.2% from May. The decrease is consistent with historic declines throughout the summer months.

Non-intermodal freight in June totalled 21.7 million tonnes, down from 21.9 million tonnes in May. About 277,000 carloads were required to carry the freight.

Coal, potash and fertilizers as well as sulphur accounted for most of the decline.

Offsetting the drop were gains in wheat; other non metallic minerals; alumina and iron and steel – primary or semi-finished.

Intermodal loadings in June were down 2.5% to 2.3 million tonnes, accounting for 9.6% of the total tonnage.

Freight arriving from the United States , either destined for or passing through Canada , totalled 2.2 million tonnes, a 6.6% decrease.

On a year-to-date basis, the cumulative total for non-intermodal loadings for the first six months of 2004 increased 11.6% compared to the same period last year. Intermodal loadings were up 4.6%, while traffic received from the United States was up 2.9%.

Economic growth both abroad and in Canada , as well as stronger grain shipments, was behind most of the year-to-date gains. Rail companies say the growth would have been even greater had it not been for slowdowns caused by the high volume of traffic on railways.