Highlights

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1. Canadian railways carried 25.8 million tonnes of freight in December, up 11.5% from December 2010. The gain was the result of increases in both domestic and international cargo loadings.
2. Over the same 12-month period, the railway industry's core domestic transportation systems, non-intermodal and intermodal, saw their combined freight loadings rise 11.3% to 23.1 million tonnes.
3. Non-intermodal cargo loadings typically carried in bulk or loaded in box cars, advanced 12.2% to 20.9 million tonnes. The gain was the result of increased traffic in more than half of the commodity classifications carried by the railways. The commodity groups with the largest increases in tonnage were coal, wheat and colza seeds (canola).
4. Intermodal freight loadings of containers and trailers loaded onto flat cars grew 3.3% to 2.2 million tonnes. The increase was attributed solely to containerized cargo shipments as trailers loaded onto flat cars fell in December.
5. From an international perspective, freight traffic received from the United States experienced a 13.5% gain to 2.7 million tonnes. The increase was driven by both non-intermodal and intermodal traffic.
6. Geographically, 61.6% of the freight traffic originating in Canada was in the Western Division of Canada, with the remainder loaded in the Eastern Division. For statistical purposes, the Eastern and Western Divisions are separated by an imaginary line running from Thunder Bay to Armstrong, Ontario. Freight loaded at Thunder Bay is included in the Western Division while loadings at Armstrong are reported in the Eastern Division.