According to Statistics Canada, the volume of freight carried by Canadian railways in October amounted to 32.6 million tons, down 1.3 percent from October 2022 levels, marking the sixth straight month of year-over-year decline.
Despite the overall decline, total freight carried approached the five-year average of 33.3 million tons for October.
The decline in total freight carried in October reflected a lower volume of domestic traffic, both non-intermodal loadings (mainly commodities) and intermodal loadings (mainly containers).
Non-intermodal freight loadings in Canada decreased for the second month in a row, down 1.7 percent year over year to 26.1 million tons in October, led by sharp declines in some agricultural products—in particular, grains.
In October, intermodal shipments—mainly containers—originating in Canada fell 7.0 percent year over year to 3.0 million tons, the 11th consecutive decline and the lowest volume recorded for the month of October in over five years. Recently, the Canadian international merchandise trade program reported imports of consumer goods were down 8.8 percent year over year in October.
In October, freight traffic arriving from the United States remained well above the volume of previous years for the third consecutive month, up 7.2 percent year over year to 3.6 million tons—the third highest volume recorded for the month of October in the last 10 years.