Canadian National Railway shipped more than 2.95 million tonnes of grain and grain products in rail cars in January
Canada’s top-earning railway company is transporting Canadian grain to market at an unprecedented pace during the 2020-21 crop year.
And it appears to be well on track to setting a new record for the largest volume of grain and processed grain products ever moved in a single crop year.
Montreal-based Canadian National Railway announced Feb. 2 that it set a new grain shipping record for the month of January.
The company shipped more than 2.95 million tonnes of Canadian grain and grain products in rail cars last month.
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That exceeded the company’s previous January record of 2.33 million tonnes by 27 percent. The company’s three-year average for January grain haulings, excluding containerized grain, is 2.24 million tonnes.
The January record continues an incredible run for CN’s Canadian grain business.
The company has now set new volume records for Canadian grain in 11 consecutive months and has moved an unprecedented 17.5 million tonnes of grain and grain products through the first half of the 2020-21 crop year.
That’s nearly 17 percent higher than the company’s previous half-year record of 14.9 million tonnes set in 2018-19 and a whopping 24 percent higher than the company’s three-year average for the six-month period ending Jan. 31.
“What great news to start off 2021,” said Rob Reilly, executive vice-president and chief operating officer at CN.
“I could not be prouder to see such fluidity and collaboration across all supply chains at the same time, especially in Canadian grain. We know that harsher weather is always just around the corner, so it is critical that we keep up the pace and collaboration that we have seen in the first half of the crop year ….”
CN is also setting records this year for containerized grain.
The company said it has moved more than 600,000 tonnes of containerized grain from Western Canada since Aug. 1.
Reilly credited CN employees, port operators, Canadian grain farmers and other supply chain partners, citing “ongoing collaboration and constant communication.”
January’s record haul comes on the heels of what CN president JJ Ruest called “a year like no other.”
“We got through it (2020) together and kept the economy moving while setting impressive record volumes in key markets,” Ruest said.
“Our operations remained very nimble in the fourth quarter as we right-sized to meet increased demand….”
CN’s fourth quarter 2020 revenues came in at nearly $3.66 billion, an increase of $72 million or two percent more than 2019’s fourth quarter.
The increase in revenue was mainly the result of “record shipments of Canadian grain, increased shipments of American grain, higher international container traffic via the Port of Vancouver and freight rate increases,” the company said.
CN’s full-year 2020 revenues were just shy of $13.2 billion, down $1.1 billion or seven percent from 2019.
Although COVID impacted the railway’s operations, demand for rail services showed continued strength in the fourth quarter of 2020.
“While the recovery remains uneven across the markets we serve, we are pleased by the momentum in volume demand that grew during the fourth quarter and continues to grow,” said Ruest.
“We are increasingly optimistic about 2021 ….”
In its year-end earnings announcement, CN unveiled plans for a $3 billion capital investment program.
