According to Statistics Canada, in August, Canadian railways transported 31.0 million tons of freight, up 2.4 percent from August 2021 levels, marking the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year increase.
The overall freight volume was just under the five-year average of 31.4 million tons for the month. Higher carloadings of certain energy products as well as some other commodities more than offset a sharp year-over-year drop in fuel oils and crude petroleum as well as ongoing declines in grain.
Non-intermodal rail freight increased for the fourth consecutive month in August, up 2.7 percent year over year to 24.0 million tons, led by large increases in carloadings of some energy-based products. With the global search for energy options, loadings of other refined petroleum and coal products (e.g., propane, butane) continued on a 17-month growth trend, rising 60.0 percent (+255,000 tons) year over year in August, following strong gains in July (+88.6 percent) and June (+71.5 percent).
In August, intermodal shipments—mainly containers—originating in Canada increased for the second consecutive month, edging up 2.3 percent year over year to 3.3 million tons, the highest volume ever recorded for the month.
Loadings from American railways edged up 0.5 percent to 3.8 million tons in August compared with the same month a year earlier, the third highest traffic level on record for the month.