Canadian Pacific broke its all-time monthly record for shipping Canadian grain and grain products, moving 3.14 million metric tonnes (MMT) in October 2022.
This makes October 2022 CP’s biggest month ever for moving these products, breaking the previous monthly record set in October 2020 by more than 100,000 metric tonnes.
“This remarkable achievement is a testament to the collaboration between CP and our customers, to our railroaders, and to the hard work of so many throughout the supply chain,” said Joan Hardy, CP’s vice president sales and marketing, Grain and Fertilizers.
“Transporting record volumes of grain would not be possible without the significant investment that has been made by our customers in new and upgraded grain-handling capacity and investment made by CP in infrastructure and high-capacity hopper cars," Hardy added. "CP’s 8,500-foot High Efficiency Product (HEP) model is adding much-needed capacity to allow more grain to move than ever before.”
CN also announces record-breaking month in October
CN also announced that during the week of October 16 that it moved over 806,000 metric tonnes of grain from Western Canada, exceeding its previous record by over 50,000 metric tonnes.
This record comes on the heels of CN’s second best September ever for grain movement from Western Canada, with over 2.64 million metric tonnes moved.
News of these record-breaking movements is welcomed as Canadian grain was piling amid rail bottleneck in early October.
In the first week of October, it was reported that Canada's bumper crop may have problems being transported as there weren't enough cars to fill orders.
There were almost 2,400 outstanding grain-car orders for the nation’s two major carriers -- CN and CP -- according to data from the Ag Transport Coalition.
Viterra works closely with CP
Through the first 13 weeks of the 2022-2023 crop year, CP shipped more than 6.9 MMT of grain and grain products.
“At Viterra, we’ve been making steady and targeted investments in our asset network over the last several years to ensure we can provide our farm customers with a high level of service,” said Kyle Jeworski, Viterra’s CEO for Canada.
“By working closely together with CP, we aim to keep our supply chain as fluid as possible and support the efficient movement of commodities through our network," continued Jeworski. "As we head into winter and critical shipping months for our industry, it’s important that we keep up this momentum.”
CP acquires 5,900 high-capacity grain hopper cars
This year CP is completing its $500 million investment to acquire 5,900 new high-capacity grain hopper cars as part of the company's commitment to the agriculture sector.
Including leased hoppers within CP’s fleet, CP grain customers can expect to see more than 7,300 new high-capacity hoppers in active service by the end of 2022, enabling the transportation of more grain in each train.
“Canada has a healthy freight rail system that is safe and efficient, delivering high performance and strong service to shippers at among the lowest costs in the world,” added Hardy. “The significant volumes of grain and grain products moving on our railway exceed the supply commitments outlined in our annual grain plan.
"It is critical that all supply chain participants, including customer loading facilities and terminal operators loading grain into vessels at ports, operate at full capacity to sustain this strong momentum," Hardy added. "We saw that demonstrated in October, particularly with the unloading success of terminals on Vancouver’s South Shore.”
Effective crop year and winter planning helps prepare the railway so that CP can serve the needs of its customers, and by extension, the broader economy, said Hardy. CP has outlined its grain service outlook and its winter contingency measures in plans available on cpr.ca.
