CN, CP set third-quarter records for grain movement

MarketsFarm — Canada’s big two railways again reported moving record amounts of Canadian grain during the third quarter of 2020.

Canadian National Railway (CN) reported Monday it had shipped 7.76 million tonnes of grain by rail, and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) said Friday it had moved 7.72 million tonnes.

For CN that not only marked a Q3 record, but also the seventh-consecutive month of record grain shipments, the company said in a release, including 2.43 million tonnes in August and 2.81 million tonnes in September.

“Grain demand is enabling the return to active employment of many of our people,” CN CEO J.J. Ruest said, also noting the railway’s addition of 1,500 new “locally-built, high-capacity grain cars.”

Rival CP said in achieving its record Q3 grain movements, it transported a record amount of grain in September as well, at 2.8 million tonnes.

“The CP team showed itself ready for this fall’s harvest, supporting customers and their supply chains to get grain moving off the combine and to market,” Joan Hardy, CP’s vice-president of sales and marketing for grain and fertilizers, said in that company’s release Friday.

CP said its 3,200 additional high-capacity rail cars can haul 15 per cent more volume and 10 per cent more weight than previous models, adding that its 8,500-foot trains carry 40 per cent more grain than its previous 7,000-foot trains with the older, smaller cars.