Higher revenue per carload of grain helped against “strong headwinds” in Canadian National Railway’s (CN) 2007 fiscal year, the company reported Tuesday.
In its year-end financial results for 2007, CN posted full-year net income of $2.16 billion on $7.897 billion in revenues, up from $2.09 billion on $7.929 billion in 2006. For the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, it posted net income of $833 million on $1.94 billion in revenues, up from $499 million on $2 billion in the year-earlier period.
CN’s revenues from grain and fertilizer were up four per cent for the year at $1.31 billion, but gains in grain and other sectors were offset by an 11 per cent dip in forest products revenue and slight declines in metals and minerals and intermodal traffic.
Read Also
VIDEO: Cereal drought tolerant ratings hard to compile
Cereals and most crops have ratings for disease resistance, yield potential, straw height and other traits, but not drought tolerance. Right now, that sort of information is anecdotal
The company hauled about 601,000 carloads of grain and fertilizers in 2007, up just one per cent from 594,000 in 2006. Revenue per carload of grain and fertilizers rose three per cent to $2,181.
“CN faced strong headwinds in 2007 but we turned in a solid performance for both the quarter and the year,” said CEO Hunter Harrison in a release Tuesday.
The railway’s major challenges included weak housing markets in the U.S., the rising Canadian dollar’s effect on U.S. dollar-denominated revenues, a strike in the first quarter and “a number of weather-related issues, particularly in Western Canada,” he said.
Harrison said CN remains “cautious” about the state of the North American economy, including the strong dollar and the weak U.S. housing market.
However, he said, the company sees opportunities to boost traffic, especially using its new Prince Rupert, B.C. gateway to spur more intermodal container traffic between Asia and North America. It also sees opportunities in Western Canada’s continuing oil boom for hauling more bulk and industrial products, Harrison added.
