Railway carloadings

The Canadian railway industry loaded 22.4 million metric tonnes of freight in June, a 6.7% decline from June 2007 levels.

Contributing to this decline was the continued economic softness in the United States, particularly for forestry and automotive-related products, as well as delays due to flooding in the Midwestern states.

Non-intermodal loadings fell 7.2% to 20.0 million metric tonnes in June, compared with June 2007. Among the commodity classifications that experienced the largest declines were forestry products, such as lumber and wood pulp, and automotive products, such as automobiles and minivans.

Other commodities that saw decreases in loadings were wheat, potash and iron ore and concentrates.

Intermodal loadings edged down 1.9%, from June 2007 levels. This drop was the result of decreased loadings of both containers and trailers on flat cars.

Rail freight traffic coming from the United States increased to 2.8 million metric tonnes, up 12.9% from June 2007.

Available on CANSIM: table 404-0002.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2732.

The June 2008 issue of Monthly Railway Carloadings Survey, Vol. 85, no. 6 (52-001-XWE, free), is now available from the Publications module of our website.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact the Dissemination Unit (toll-free 1-866-500-8400; fax: 613-951-0009; transportationstatistics@statcan.gc.ca), Transportation Division.