Statistics Canada reports that Canadian railways transported 28.9 million tonnes of freight in July, down 5.1% from July 2022 levels, marking the third straight month of year-over-year decline.
The Federal Agency notes that less shipments of containers, potash and some energy products led the year-over-year decline in July, due in part to a labour dispute during the month at Canada’s west coast ports.
Intermodal shipments-mainly containers-originating from Canada led the overall decline in freight transported by rail, dropping by 24.0% year over year to reach 2.3 million tonnes, the lowest level for this month in over 10 years.
Non-intermodal freight loadings-mainly commodities-fell for the third month in a row, edging down 1.1% year over year to 23.1 million tonnes in July.
In July 2023, freight traffic arriving from the United States remained well below the volume posted in the previous year for the 11th month in a row. Tonnage decreased by 13.8% year over year to 3.5 million tonnes-the lowest level in four years for the month of July.