CN's grain traffic maintained record pace in June

CN today announced its western Canadian grain movements in June exceeded 2.3 million metric tons (MMT) compared with 1.99 MMT in June 2018.

The cumulative tonnage moved by the railroad through 11 months of the 2018-19 crop year was on record pace at 25.5 MMT — 1 million tons ahead of the previous record-setting pace — despite the restrictions on Canadian exports to China, CN officials said in a press release. The three-year average of grain movements per month is 1.80 MMT.

"We are optimistic that the strong pace of shipments we've seen in June takes us through to the end of the crop year and we can build on our record shipment pace," said Allen Foster, CN's vice president of bulk. "Our investments and dedicated grain team focused our efforts onto what is going to be a record year."

In terms of investments, the Class I plans to spend CA$210 million this year on additional rail capacity in North Vancouver, British Columbia to support expanding grain and coal export terminals, as well as to further spur the growth of natural resources export supply chains, said CN President and Chief Executive Officer JJ Ruest.