CP breaks its all-time monthly grain tonnage record

Credit: Canadian Pacific

Canadian Pacific (CP) 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.

Record breaking month

“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,” Joan Hardy, Vice-President Sales and Marketing Grain and Fertilisers for CP, said. “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. CP’s 8,500-foot High Efficiency Product (HEP) model is adding much-needed capacity to allow more grain to move than ever before.”

CP exports

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,” Kyle Jeworski, CEO for Viterra, said. “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. As we head into winter and critical shipping months for our industry, it’s important that we keep up this momentum and support Canada’s reputation as a safe and reliable supplier of food ingredients.”

CP 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,” Hardy said. “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.”

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.