October 25, 2024
Statistics Canada reports that Canadian railways transported 27.8 million tonnes of freight in August, down 10.9% from August 2023, the lowest tonnage for the month in more than 10 years.
Shipments of coal and potash as well as containers led the decline, which coincided with a short but impactful work stoppage that affected Canada's mainline rail carriers.
Non-intermodal freight loadings (mainly commodities) in Canada fell 9.0% year over year to 21.9 million tonnes in August. While widespread, the decline was driven by large decreases in the loadings of some commodities. In particular, loadings of coal fell sharply by 22.3% (-677 000 tonnes) compared with August 2023. Similarly, loadings of potash dropped 26.5% (-577 000 tonnes) year over year in August 2024.
In August 2024, intermodal shipments-mainly containers-originating in Canada declined for the first time after six straight months of year-over-year increases. Tonnage was down 15.6% from August 2023 to reach 2.5 million, the lowest tonnage recorded for the month in over 10 years.
Freight traffic from the United States declined for the first time after six consecutive months of year-over-year increases, down 18.5% year over year in August to 3.4 million tonnes-the lowest level for the month of August since 2020.