(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.

July 16, 2020: Report Synopsis

Loads on Wheels

· System traffic volumes increased slightly yesterday reflecting marginally higher volumes on CN and CP.

· As noted yesterday, based on confirmed shipper orders for week 50 (this week), it is expected that traffic volumes will remain strong with more than 9,000 confirmed orders for ATC shippers.  This may be mitigated somewhat by ongoing hopper car rationing by CN for the third consecutive week.

Loads Not Moving

· The count of idle cars rose yesterday reflecting continued improvement on CN and an increase on CP.

· CN saw counts improve in the Prince Rupert and Vancouver corridors offset by higher counts in the Thunder Bay corridor.

· CP saw counts increase in the Vancouver corridor with little change elsewhere.

Port Performance

· West coast port unloads (1,097) remain above the 1,000 car threshold for the third straight day reflecting good unloads at Vancouver and below average unloads at Prince Rupert.

· West coast vessel counts continue to hover around 30-35 vessels per day, a consistent range over the last few months.

· Vessel counts were unchanged overnight reflecting higher counts at Vancouver (+1) and lower counts at Prince Rupert (-1) – now at 37.

· One vessel is now scheduled to arrive at Prince Rupert and 8 vessels currently scheduled for arrival at Vancouver over the next ten days.

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.