Railway carloadings

Canada's railways recorded their strongest business activity for the month of May in six years, supported by strong loadings of coal and iron ore.

Railways carried 24.7 million metric tonnes in May this year, slightly above the 24.3 million metric tonnes carried in May 2005, and well above the 21.5 million metric tonnes carried in May 1999.

Loadings in May were up 3.2% from 24.0 million metric tonnes the month before, rebounding from a 4.4% decline between March and April.

Loadings of coal and iron ore alone accounted for just under one-quarter of all the rail cars needed to handle the non-intermodal portion of goods loaded on rail in May.

Combined loadings of all minerals accounted for more than one-third of all carloadings. Wood and paper commodity groupings comprised another 20%, while wheat and grains accounted for 11%, and liquid fuels and distillates about 5%.

In total, these broad groupings accounted for about 70% of carloadings, with the remaining 30% in various manufactured products.

More specifically, loadings of potash were down 36% from May 2005, even though they were still within the group of top five commodities. That represents a decline of just over 6,000 carloads.

On the other hand, other wood products, consisting mostly of plywood and various fabricated boards, have shown a consistent increase in the share of loadings. This was perhaps a reflection of the renovation and construction boom of the last few years.

Wheat loadings jumped 7.8% to 1.9 million tonnes compared with April, while loadings of automobiles and minivans rose 13%, boosting the total number of rail cars required to move them to just under 10,000.

Total non-intermodal loadings hit 22.3 million tonnes, up 3.3% from April. Intermodal loadings, that is, containers and trailers hauled on flat cars, increased 2.2% to 2.45 million tonnes.

Freight coming from the United States, either destined for or passing through Canada, reached 2.5 million tonnes, up 11% from April.

On a year-over-year basis, non-intermodal tonnage was 1.5% higher than May 2005. Intermodal loadings rose 2.5%, while traffic received from the United States remained virtually unchanged.

Available on CANSIM: table 404-0002.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2732.

The May 2006 issue of Monthly Railway Carloadings, Vol. 83, no. 5, (52-001-XIE, free) is now available from the Our Products and Services page of our website.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact the Dissemination Unit (1-866-500-8400; fax: 1-613-951-0009; transportationstatistics@statcan.gc.ca), Transportation Division.