What's Ahead - RailState's Blog

Container volume moving eastbound through the western Canada ports is on pace to top 100,000 containers in April. Combined daily container volume through the Port of Vancouver and Port of Prince Rupert is 63% higher than April 2023.

March was the strongest month for eastbound intermodal in the past six months. BNSF and UP moved 243,133 containers combined, an increase of 10.4% over February.

Driven by a surge of imports, container volume through the Port of Vancouver hit its highest level since August 2022, with a total of 75,110 containers, an increase of 51.7% over last year.

With Canada on the brink of a national railway shutdown, rail users face huge losses. This detailed report shows rail customers what to expect and how to mitigate their risks.

Total average daily volume headed eastbound from the Western Canada ports declined 1.7% in January compared to December.

Total train volume westbound to the Port of Vancouver dropped 12.9% in January compared to December. Part of this is from a decrease in train volumes in the middle of January caused by the extreme cold.

Total container volume last month on both lines was 209,110, down slightly from 216,295 in December. BNSF moved 65.0% of total container volume and 64.3% of domestic container volume.

Record low temps lead to reduced train volumes and smaller trains. Traffic inbound to the Port of Vancouver suffered the greatest impact.

Total train volume westbound to the Port of Vancouver declined 4.0% in December compared to November. Sulphur unit trains increased the most, growing from 17 trains to 22 trains. The largest decrease came from Grain unit trains, which declined 19.2%

Average daily volume of international intermodal containers headed eastbound from the Western Canada ports grew 17.4% in December compared to November.