According to a report Wednesday from Statistics
Canada, the volume of rail freight carried in
Canada totaled 27.6 million tons in November, down 7.1 percent from the same month in 2013.
Domestic rail freight originating in
Canada and destined within
Canada and other parts of the world declined 6.8 percent to 24.5 million tons. These shipments were composed of non-intermodal freight (that is, cargo moved via box cars or loaded in bulk) and intermodal freight (that is, cargo moved via containers and trailers on flat cars).
Non-intermodal freight decreased 7.7 percent to 270,000 carloads. The amount of freight loaded into these cars totaled 22.0 million tons, down 7.4 percent. The drop was attributable to reduced freight loadings in several commodity groupings, particularly iron ores and concentrates (down 927,000 tons) and coal (down 416,000 tons).
Intermodal freight loadings declined 1.8 percent to 168,000 units in November. From a tonnage perspective, traffic fell 2.0 percent to 2.5 million tons. The drop stemmed solely from a reduction in containerized cargo shipments.
Traffic received from the United States decreased 8.8 percent to 3.0 million tons. The decline was the result of a drop in both non-intermodal and intermodal shipments.