Hauling grain has provided the railways with about 20 percent of their revenue so far in 2009.
Figures released by the two national railways also confirm that while freight revenues from most commodities are down so far this year, reflecting the impact of the recession, grain has held steady or increased.
As of Oct. 1, Canadian Pacific Railway had earned revenue of $838 million from hauling grain 2009, an increase of 11.6 percent from the previous year’s $750.7 million.
By contrast, revenue was lower than last year for all other commodities hauled by CPR, with declines ranging from 18 percent for industrial and consumer products to 45 percent for sulfur and fertilizers.
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Grain revenue accounted for 27 percent of CPR’s total freight revenue of $3.08 billion, up from 20 percent during the same nine-month period last year.
At Canadian National Railway, the story was much the same.
CN lumps grain and fertilizer together in its reporting, making direct comparisons difficult. With the fertilizer industry in the doldrums, numbers from that sector would drag down the total.
With that in mind, revenue from grain and fertilizer was $985 million in the first nine months of the year, accounting for 20 percent of CN’s total freight revenue of $4.9 billion.
That’s down two percent from the previous year’s $1 billion.
Among other commodities, only forest products did better, down one percent from the same period last year.
Grain and fertilizer ranked second, just slightly behind intermodal, in terms of total freight revenue for CN.
