Canadian railways’ tonnage moving closer to pre-pandemic levels

Statistics Canada reports 32.6 million tonnes of freight in October, down 1.9% from 33.2 million tonnes in October 2019

Statistics Canada reports that the volume of rail freight carried in the country continued to recover, moving closer to pre-pandemic levels, for the second month in a row.

The Federal Agency reports that Canadian railways carried 32.6 million tonnes of freight in October, down 1.9% from 33.2 million tonnes in October 2019.

While the October overall tonnage was still down year over year, it was the highest level observed since March 2020, coming close to the previous five-year average for October.

Domestically, non-intermodal cargo loadings (carloads) decreased 1.8% year over year to 26.1 million tonnes, driven by large declines in hydrocarbon-based commodities. Large increases in loadings of certain agricultural and food products throughout the pandemic have helped to offset the declines in hydrocarbon-based commodities.

Conversely, intermodal freight loadings in Canada rose 12.1% to 3.6 million tonnes from a year ago – an all-time high.

Freight traffic from American railways saw a year-over-year decline for a seventh straight month, dipping 15.9% to 2.8 million tonnes in October. This was the lowest level for October in four years and followed similar declines in August (-21.8%) and September (-14.1%).