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1. The Canadian railway industry carried 26.0 million tonnes of freight in December, an amount virtually unchanged from the same month last year. The industry benefited from a strong growth in shipments received from the United States, which helped to offset a decline in domestic shipments.
2. Rail freight originating in Canada and destined within Canada and other parts of the world decreased 1.6% to 22.8 million tonnes. These shipments are comprised of non-intermodal freight (i.e., cargo moved via box cars or loaded in bulk) and intermodal freight (i.e., cargo moved via containers and trailers on flat cars).
3. Non-intermodal freight loadings fell 2.1% to 253,000 carloads in December. The amount of freight loaded into these cars totalled 20.5 million tonnes, itself a decrease of 2.0%. The tonnage decline in shipments was brought on by a drop in the majority of the 64 commodities loaded by Canadian railways.
4. Partially offsetting the decline, however, were gains in fuel oils and crude petroleum (up 324,000 tonnes); other chemical products and preparations (up 177,000 tonnes); and fresh, chilled or dried vegetables (up 138,000 tonnes).
5. Intermodal freight loadings rose in December to 153,000 units, a gain of 3.7%. The increase was spurred by increased containerized cargo shipments and trailers loaded onto flat cars. From a tonnage perspective, intermodal traffic rose 2.9% to 2.3 million tonnes.
6. Rail freight traffic received from the United States advanced 12.7% to reach a high of 3.2 million tonnes for the month of December. Both non-intermodal and intermodal shipments increased during the month.