According to Statistics Canada, the Canadian rail network carried 33.7 million tons of freight in August 2019, up 1.1 percent compared with August 2018.
Intermodal freight loadings were up 3.4 percent to 3.2 million tons compared with August 2018. Freight traffic coming from the US rail connections rose 1.0 percent to 3.8 million tons.
Over the same period, the non-intermodal freight loadings in Canada grew 0.8 percent to 26.7 million tons. The main contributors to this increase were loadings of coal (+14.7 percent or +439,000 tons), followed by colza seeds (+79.6 percent or +354,000 tons), fuel oils and crude petroleum (+13.5 percent or +229,000 tons) and iron ores and concentrates (+4.0 percent or +201,000 tons).
Moderating this growth were notable decreases in wheat (-12.9 percent or -264,000 tons), other cereal grains (-59.8 percent or -257,000 tons), potash (-10.2 percent or -204,000 tons) and lumber (-19.2 percent or -200,000 tons). The declines in carloadings of grains coincided with a terminal maintenance shutdown at The Port of Prince Rupert during early August and with the slow pace of harvest in Western Canada due to wet weather conditions.