Canadian railways total freight volume up 6.7% in April

 Loadings from American railways rose 17.2% in April compared with the same month last year

Statistics Canada reports that Canadian railways carried 31.7 million tonnes of freight in April. This was up 6.7% from 29.7 million tonnes in April 2020 when rail traffic volumes fell to a 5-year low due to widespread shutdowns at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Federal Agency notes that April was the sixth consecutive month of a year-over-year increase, with the overall volume well above the five-year average for this month and second only to the record volume of 33.3 million tonnes reached in April 2019.

Non-intermodal rail operations in Canada increased 3.3% year over year to 25.1 million tonnes, with broad-based increases for many commodities. The largest increase was reported in iron ores and concentrates, with loadings rising 13.8% (+552 000 tonnes) in April compared with the same month in 2020, marking the sixth consecutive month of year-over-year growth.

Intermodal loadings-mainly containers-also contributed to the overall growth in April, increasing by 27.8% from April 2020 to 3.2 million tonnes, the second-highest volume for this month on record.

After substantial year-over-year declines for over a year, loadings from American railways rose 17.2% to 3.4 million tonnes in April compared with the same month last year, the highest April traffic level since 2018.