According to Statistics Canada, in December, Canadian railways carried 28.4 million tons of freight, up slightly (+0.5 percent) from December 2021, marking the third consecutive month of year-over-year growth.
For 2022 as a whole, rail cargo volume totaled 366.4 million tons, up slightly (+0.5 percent) from 2021 levels, driven by increases in carloadings of some energy products and iron ores.
The total volume of cargo moved by Canadian railways remained largely unchanged from 2021 to 2022, increasing slightly by 0.5 percent to 366.4 million tons, with gains in tonnage concentrated in the latter half of the year.
During the first half of 2022, rail freight volumes were consistently below 2021 totals, mostly because of declines in carloadings of grains amid the depletion of stocks stemming from the drought across the Prairies in summer 2021. For instance, loadings of wheat dropped an averaged 1.25 million tons year over year each month from January to August 2022. However, in the last four months of the year, wheat loadings averaged over 2.5 million tons more each month, in large part due to a bumper harvest from more favorable growing conditions across the Prairies in 2022.
In 2022, non-intermodal loadings in Canada totaled 283.5 million tons, down slightly (-0.1 percent) from 2021 levels. Similarly, intermodal freight traffic also decreased slightly, down 0.6 percent to reach 36.8 million tons in 2022. However, container volumes were particularly strong during the last six months of 2022. Finally, traffic received from the United States reached an-all time high of 46.0 million tons in 2022, surpassing the prior record set in 2021 by 5.6 percent.
The slight decrease (-0.1 percent) in non-intermodal or commodity freight loadings in Canada in 2022 was driven by declines in loadings of some agricultural and food products, especially grain during the early part of the year. On balance, wheat loadings were down 10.9 percent from 2021 to 20.3 million tons in 2022. Loadings of canola fell 26.4 percent to 6.7 million tons in 2022, while other cereal grains were down 27.0 percent, reaching 4.9 million tons.
Other declines were reported for fuel oils and crude petroleum, with loadings of 12.1 million tons, down 11.0 percent from 2021 levels, while other chemical products and preparations were down 59.5 percent.
The above-noted decline in non-intermodal freight traffic was moderated by large increases in several commodities. Loadings of coal rose for the second consecutive year, up 9.7 percent to 37.4 million tons in 2022. Higher gas prices and constraints on energy supplies affecting Europe were creating an even stronger demand for coal.
Loadings of other refined petroleum and coal products followed suit, increasing by 16.3 percent to 7.4 million tons in 2022. With COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions lifted and more people travelling, loadings of gasoline and aviation turbine fuel was up 29.2 percent from 2021 to reach 2.7 million tons in 2022.
Loadings of iron ores and concentrates totaled 56.5 million tons in 2022, a 2.4 percent increase from 2021. Finally, loadings of freight motor vehicles increased from 1.2 million tons in 2021 to 1.9 million tons in 2022, an increase of 57.1 percent, the largest increase ever recorded.
For December 2022, Canadian railways transported 28.4 million tons of freight, up slightly (+0.5 percent) compared with the same month in 2021.
The non-intermodal operations in Canada accounted for all the increase, rising 7.4 percent year over year to 23.0 million tons on the increased loadings of agricultural and foods products. Moderating this growth were notable decreases in potash, fuel oils and crude petroleum, coal, lumber and other chemical products and preparations.
In December, intermodal freight loadings in Canada (mainly containers) fell 8.6 percent to 2.6 million tons, their first decrease in five months.
Finally, freight traffic from the US rail connections have declined year over year for four consecutive months, down 29.1 percent to 2.9 million tons in December.