Not to be left out, CP Rail says it also set a new all-time monthly tonnage record for shipping grain in October.
Shortly after CN Rail announced on Nov. 2 that October was its best ever month of grain shipping, CP said it also set a new monthly record for grain movement.
CP said it shipped more than 3.14 million metric tonnes of grain and grain products in October, breaking its previously monthly record set in October 2020 by more than 100 thousand metric tonnes.
For comparison, CN said it moved over 3.23 million metric tonnes of grain in October, exceeding its previous monthly record also set in October 2020 by 50 thousand metric tonnes.
In terms of weekly performance, CP’s network moved a high of 757,406 metric tonnes of Canadian grain in the week of Oct. 16 — the railway’s highest weekly total in two years and the second-highest weekly tonnage CP has ever shipped.
As with CN, CP said grain movement in the last week of October tailed off due to port terminals being at capacity, with rain preventing the loading of ships in Vancouver.
“Last week, CP staged nine trains, all destined for the north shore, as a result of the effects of rain. CP continues to call on the Government of Canada to bring together all stakeholders to find reasonable, pragmatic, and safe solutions to once again allow grain to be loaded in the rain,” said the railway, in its week 13 grain movement update.
While the volume of grain moved in October may have been record-setting, data provided by grain companies to the Ag Transport Coalition shows CP has not kept up with elevators’ hopper car orders. According to the ATC, CP Rail’s hopper car order fulfillment declined from 85 to 69 per cent during weeks 10 through 12 — the last three weeks of available data. CN, meanwhile, supplied between 86 and 93 per cent of the cars ordered by grain companies during the same period.
In Oct., CP broke the all-time monthly tonnage record for shipping grain & grain products, shipping more than 3.14 million metric tonnes, breaking the previous monthly record set in Oct. 2020 by more than 100,000 metric tonnes. More info: https://t.co/UrAUrOndkg #Dedicated2Grain pic.twitter.com/7iRYJ4Mx5B
— Canadian Pacific (@CanadianPacific) November 2, 2022
Related: CN Rail reports best month ever for grain movement
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