According to Statistics Canada, the volume of rail freight carried in Canada totaled 27.8 million tons in June, down 7.5 percent from the same month last year. Freight originating in Canada decreased 6.5 percent from June 2015 to 25.4 million tons. These shipments are composed of both non-intermodal and intermodal freight.
Non-intermodal freight fell 6.3 percent to 277,000 carloads in June. The amount of freight loaded into these cars totaled 22.6 million tons, down 7.3 percent from the same month last year. The decline mainly reflected a decrease in loadings of wheat, fuel oils and crude petroleum, potash, and iron ore and concentrates. Tonnage of coal, potash, and fuel oils and crude petroleum shipped by rail was down year over year for the eight consecutive month.
Intermodal freight loadings edged up 0.4 percent year over year to 185,000 units. In terms of weight, intermodal traffic rose 0.7 percent to 2.8 million tons as a result of an increase in containers on flat cars.
Freight traffic received from the United States fell 17.3 percent to 2.4 million tons, as a result of a 19.4 percent decrease in non-intermodal freight, while intermodal freight from the United States increased 7.1 percent.