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Highlights

1. The Canadian railway industry continued to push full steam ahead in the first three months of 2008, particularly during the month of March. These positive results were achieved despite being up against one of the worst winters in years.
2. During both the month and quarter, the industry faced unusually cold weather, high winds and record snow falls that led to delays, derailments, and even outright stoppages.
3. Railways loaded 22.9 million metric tonnes of freight in March, a 6.8% gain over February’s loadings.
4. Non-intermodal loadings of coal, potash, wheat, colza seeds (canola), and sulphur accounted for the vast majority of the increase as a result of their rising demand inside and outside of Canada. The strength of these commodities caused overall non-intermodal loadings to climb 7.3% to 20.6 million metric tonnes.
5. Intermodal loadings also rose in March, rising 2.5% to 2.3 million metric tonnes. The rise was almost entirely attributable to increased containerized cargo shipments.
6. Rail freight traffic coming from the United States increased as well for the month, rising 6.2% to about 2.9 million metric tonnes.
7. On a year-over-year basis, March’s non-intermodal loadings are down slightly, while intermodal loadings are down 7.8%. Traffic received from the United States increased 5.5%, an all-time high for the month of March.
8. On a quarterly basis, loadings in the first quarter of 2008 slid down 5.9% to about 67.1 million metric tonnes compared to loadings from the fourth quarter of 2007. This decline is typical for the time period. Compared to the first quarter of 2007, however, loadings in the first quarter of 2008 are up almost one percent.
9. Among the factors behind the decline between the first and fourth quarters are reduced loadings within the agriculture, forestry and manufacturing sectors.