In August 2002, the freight loaded by railways in Canada (excluding intermodal traffic) totalled 18.9 million metric tonnes. This represented an increase of 2.0% compared to August 2001.

The intermodal tonnage, represented by "container-on-flat-cars" (C.O.F.C.) and "trailer-on-flat-cars" (T.O.F.C.) increased by 15.1% compared to the same period in 2001, to 2.2 million metric tonnes.

The five main loaded commodities were: coal (2.9 million metric tonnes), iron ores and concentrates (2.0 million metric tonnes), wheat (1.2 million metric tonnes), lumber (1.1 million metric tonnes), and potash (1.0 million metric tonnes).

The cumulative freight loaded (excluding intermodal traffic) for the first eight months of 2002 reached 155.0 million metric tonnes.