(Daily updates will be available on the Alberta Pulse Growers website.)

Pulse Canada and the CSCA are partners of the Ag Transport Coalition (ATC)*, which tracks performance of the Canadian railway network for the movement of grain.

A daily report has been created to provide stakeholders with insight on the performance of the Canadian rail system as it attempts to remain resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues recovering from a series of physical network disruptions in the months of January and February 2020.

April 2, 2020: Report Synopsis

Loads on Wheels

·Traffic levels declined slightly for the third consecutive day, reflecting significantly lower volumes on CN (-10%) and a slight decline on CP.

· CP traffic levels remain above the 5,000 car threshold for the 7th consecutive day and CN volumes have fallen below the 6,000 car threshold for the first time in nearly a month.

· Lower volumes on CN reflect a general decline across the board in all corridors, while the change in CP volumes reflects a series of puts and takes across multiple corridors.

Loads Not Moving.

· Loads sitting idle for more than 48 hours rose overnight after declining for two straight days, reflecting increased counts for both CN and CP. Total counts have moved above 2,200 cars. Combined with declining loads on wheels, this has resulted in an increase in the ratio of idle cars to loads on wheels which has risen above last week’s levels.

· The net increase overnight reflects improvement or deterioration across multiple corridors, but with no substantive changes in any single corridor.

· Most idle cars continue to sit at origin, which may reflect a strategy by the railways to meter traffic to the ports and avoid congestion in their networks.

Port Performance

· West coast port unloads remained below the 1,000-car threshold for the second consecutive day, and are now averaging some 12% less than last week.

· Vessel line ups ticked down slightly, with counts declining at Vancouver and Prince Rupert. Total west coast vessel counts are now at 36.

· Three vessels are now scheduled to arrive at Prince Rupert, and 11 vessels are currently scheduled for arrival at Vancouver over the next two weeks — the latter seemingly in the face of declining demand in the Vancouver corridor this week.

All daily resiliency reports are available on the Pulse Canada website.

*The Ag Transportation Coalition is comprised of the Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA), Alberta Wheat Commission (AWC), Pulse Canada, Manitoba Pulse Growers Association (MPGA), Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA), Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission, Inland Terminal Association of Canada (ITAC) and the Canadian Special Crops Association (CSCA).

For more information, go to www.agtransportcoalition.com