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Canadian Pacific railway has record-breaking month for grain

The Canadian Pacific (CP) railway moved more Canadian grain and grain products in November 2019 than any month in its history. CP delivered 2.74 million metric tonnes (MMT) during November, beating the October 2019 all-time record of 2.66 MMT.

In addition to the overall record, CP marked two other key milestones in November: unloading a record amount of cars at its port in Thunder Bay, Ont. and a roundtable discussion about CP’s new train model that could increase capacity along the grain supply chain.

More CP carloads of grain unloaded at the Port of Thunder Bay during the week of Nov. 18-24 than in any prior week, according to CP. The railway’s customers’ terminals in Thunder Bay unloaded 2,216 cars in the Nov. 18-24 week, surpassing the previous weekly record of 2,144 in fall 2017. Thunder Bay is a key shipping point for Canadian grain exports.

On Nov. 22, 2019, CP held an Alberta Agriculture Round Table event in Bowden, Alta., to discuss capacity gains in the grain supply chain, including CP’s new 8,500-foot High-Efficiency Product (HEP) train model. The discussion included agricultural industry representatives; senior government leaders, including Alberta ministers, Devin Dreeshen, minister of agriculture and forestry, and Ric McIver, minister of transportation and Member of Parliament for Red Deer-Mountainview Earl Dreeshen; and CP representatives from the operations and sales and marketing teams. Attendees discussed grain supply chain capacity and efficiency including the advantages of the new train model and how to ensure all participants in the supply chain can work together to maximize grain movement.

CP did not comment on how the CN rail strike, which took place from Nov. 19 until Nov. 26, impacted their own operations in November.