The Wolfson Centre for Bulk Solids Handling Technology

Thirteenth consecutive monthly grain record for CN

(Posted on 15/04/21)

Despite challenging conditions, CN and its supply chain partners have delivered exceptionally during Q1 to help supply the world with Canadian grain.

The rail operator, which safely transports more than 300 million tons of natural resources, manufactured products, and finished goods throughout North America every year, has announced that it moved 2.95 million metric tonnes (MMT) of western Canadian grain in March 2021, exceeding the previous record of 2.74 MMT set in 2020 and 19% ahead of the three-year average of 2.47 MMT.

During the first quarter of 2021, and despite the extreme temperatures experienced over large parts of CN’s network in February, CN moved 8.2 MMT of Canadian grain, exceeding the previous first quarter record of 7.0 MMT established in 2017 and over 25% higher than the three-year average of 6.5 MMT. So far, during the 2020-2021 crop year, CN has moved 22.7 MMT of Canadian grain. This is an increase of 19% compared to the previous year to-date record of 19.1 MMT established in the 2018-19 crop year.

Containerised grain shipments direct from western Canada are also on record pace, approaching 800,000 metric tonnes crop year to-date, in addition to the tonnage shipped from eastern Canada.

“Since the beginning of 2021, Canadian grain farmers, along with all of our supply chain partners, have worked closely with CN's railroaders to deliver record grain performance despite the pandemic and the very difficult operating conditions we faced in February. We are proud of these record results as we also respond to record demand for the movement of other commodities, such as potash, overseas and domestic intermodal, forest products, and propane. I want to personally thank CN railroaders and our agri-food supply chain partners for successfully delivering another record month of grain movement while keeping pace with higher than previous year’s overall traffic levels on CN's network,” said James Cairns, senior vice president, rail centric supply chain at CN.

CN's continued ability to deliver record volumes is largely due to investments made by the railway over the past few years. Since 2018, CN has invested over $10B in track, safety enhancing technologies, locomotives, and railcars, including the purchase of over 2,500 new high capacity grain hopper cars.