RailState, the rail industry’s only provider of real-time rail network visibility, independently tracks all freight rail movements across Canada in real-time.
This report covers freight movements into the major Canadian ports. It excludes intermodal traffic, which is covered in a separate Intermodal Report.
Western Ports
Port of Vancouver
Overall freight volume westbound to the Port of Vancouver stayed flat in June (+0.2%) compared to May. The biggest % changes came from Potash trains, which increased 23.3% in June. Other train types were unchanged or experienced marginal declines.
Automotive: -7.1%
Coal Unit: 0.0%
Grain Unit: -0.8%
Manifest -2.1%
Tank Car Unit trains: 0.0%
Sulphur Unit: -14.3%
CPKC’s share of total carload volume into the Port of Vancouver region was 7 points higher than CN’s. The market share split is mostly unchanged from May, when CPKC moved 53.5% of freight volume into the Port.
Prince Rupert
Freight volume to the Port of Prince Rupert fell 15.1% in June.
Coal Unit: -10.3%
Grain Unit: -14.6%
Manifest: -14.3%
Tank Car Unit trains: -21.1%
Eastern Ports
Halifax
Train volume to Halifax decreased by 15.4% in June. All train types saw decreases in volume.
Automotive: -9.7%
Grain Unit: -28.6%
Manifest: -5.6%
Port of Sydney
Train volume to the Port of Sydney decreased by 9 trains in June (-27.3%).
Thunder Bay
Train volume to Thunder Bay decreased 13.3% in June.
Automotive: +11.1%
Coal Unit: -40.0%
Grain Unit: -2.0%
Manifest: -11.3%
Potash: -72.7%
CN increased its market share of freight volume into the port, growing to 28% from 25.5% in May.
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