CN export grain loads soar to 20-year high

Canadian National announced Wednesday that it moved more than 125,000 grain cars to export terminals at Vancouver and Prince Rupert during the2010-2011 crop year ended on July 31, the most in 20 years. The Vancouver movement of 6.7 million metric tons was driven by record canola shipments of 3.9 million metric tons, while Prince Rupert total shipments topped 4 million metric tons for the sixth consecutive crop year, matching another record.

During the past crop year, CN fully implemented its Scheduled Grain Service Plan, which it launched in January 2010. The Plan achieved an 81% success rate in delivering cars ordered to specific elevators on the scheduled day.

“This is the most canola CN has ever moved in one crop year,” said Andy Gonta, CN vice-president, Bulk Products. “Alberta farmers planted recordacres of canola last year, enjoyed strong yields, and harvested a record crop. Our customers then did an excellent job of promoting and selling the product in overseas markets.”

“We are pleased with the improvement in service reliability we received last crop year from CN,” said Bob Miller, senior vice president, North American Grain, for Viterra, Canada’s largest agribusiness. “CN’s Scheduled Grain Service Plan has significantly improved the reliability for spotting railcars in our country grain handling network, allowing us to more effectively utilize our resources and provide additional value to farmers by better scheduling deliveries of grain to our elevators.”