Railway carloadings, March 2012 (preliminary data)

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Canadian railways carried 26.7 million tonnes of freight in March, virtually unchanged from March 2011. A drop in domestic loadings was fully offset by an increase in cargo received from US connections.

Total domestic freight loadings, composed of non-intermodal traffic (i.e., carried in bulk or loaded in box cars) and intermodal traffic (i.e., containers and trailers on flat cars), fell 1.6% to 23.4 million tonnes over the same 12-month period.

Non-intermodal cargo loadings declined 2.8% to 20.9 million tonnes. The decrease was the result of reduced traffic in more than one-third of the commodity classifications carried by the railways. The commodity groups with the largest declines in tonnage were potash, iron ores and concentrates, and coal.

In contrast, several commodity groups registered increases. Loadings of wheat increased the most, followed by fuel oils and crude petroleum, and colza seeds (canola).

Intermodal freight loadings rose 9.7% to 2.5 million tonnes. The increase occurred solely on the strength of containerized cargo shipments, as trailers loaded onto flat cars declined.

Traffic received from US connections advanced 13.1% to 3.3 million tonnes. The increase was driven by both non-intermodal and intermodal traffic.

Geographically, 59.6% of the freight traffic originating in Canada was in the Western Division of Canada, with the remainder loaded in the Eastern Division. For statistical purposes, cargo loadings from Thunder Bay, Ontario, to the Pacific Coast are classified to the Western Division while loadings from Armstrong, Ontario, to the Atlantic Coast are classified to the Eastern Division.