Canadian railways transported 28.3 million tons of freight in June, down 6.9 percent from June 2022 and the second consecutive month of year-over-year decline. Overall traffic was at its lowest level for the month of June in more than five years.
Reduced shipments of iron ores and concentrates, potash, and fuel oils and crude petroleum were the main contributors to the overall decline. Wildfires raging across the country in June may have resulted in some supply chain adjustments.
For the first two quarters of 2023, total cargo volume moved by rail amounted to 185.6 million tons, up 3.3 percent compared with the same period in 2022. Despite the recent slowdown, the six-month cumulative total for 2023 was just above the five-year average, largely as a result of delivering a bumper grain crop from the 2022 growing season.
The traffic volume decline in June was the result of lower volumes across all types of rail operations, both domestic and cross border. The decline in tonnage in June was felt across the country, with an 8.9 percent drop in eastern Canada compared with June 2022, while traffic in western Canada was down 6.3 percent.
Non-intermodal rail operations fell for the second month in a row, down 4.7 percent year over year to 22.1 million tons in June. The largest decrease was reported in iron ores and concentrates, with loadings down 10.8 percent (-483,000 tons) in June. This decline resulted from a temporary suspension of operations at a Quebec and Labrador mine site following wildfires, as well as from the softening in global demand for steel.
Intermodal shipments originating from Canada—mainly containers—continued their downward trend for the seventh straight month, declining 8.5 percent year over year to 2.9 million tons in June.
This decrease may reflect diminishing consumer demand, as Canada's exports (-7.4 percent) and imports (-5.9 percent) of consumer goods were down year over year in June, according to the Canadian international merchandise trade data for the month of June.
Freight traffic coming from connections with American railways was well below June 2022 levels, falling 18.6 percent to 3.3 million tons in June 2023, marking the 10th consecutive month of such decline.