Despite significantly high Canadian grain volumes in February, Canadian grain shippers are still seeing some rail service issues as the network recovers from last month’s cold snap and nears the end of March, reports Freight Waves.
According to data from the Association of American Railroads (AAR), Canada has shipped 107,439 carloads of grain year-to-date, a 39% increase from the same period in 2020. The data includes grain shipped by the U.S. operations of Canadian Pacific and CN, and the data is through March 20.
As with Canada, U.S.. grain volumes have also seen significant jumps year-over-year, with year-to-date grain carloads up 27.2% to 278,926 carloads amid strong export demand.
Meanwhile, U.S, rail volumes on a weekly basis rose 11.6% year-over-year, but the comparison is uneven because last year marked the start of the steep downturn in rail traffic due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to AAR.
