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Daily Grain Network Status – January 3, 2021 JAN 4 2021 | Producers | Blog Post

(Regular 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 new grain network status report has been created to provide stakeholders with comprehensive insight on the performance of the Canadian rail system for the 2020-2021 grain year.  The report provides information and data on the status of the rail network as of midnight the previous day.

The railway performance data reported in these reports reflect the performance of rail shipments specifically for grain shippers participating in the Ag Transport Coalition’s railway performance measurement program – estimated to encompass approximately 90-95% of western Canadian originated grain shipments by rail.

January 3, 2021: Report Synopsis

Loads on Wheels

· Loads on wheels finished out last week 10% higher than the prior week averaging 14,745 cars per day.  This reflects a surge in traffic at the end of last week during the New Year’s holiday when unloads were few and traffic continued to be released in the country driving loads on wheels above 15,000 cars.

· Loads on wheels declined yesterday for the first time in 5 days but remain above 15,000 cars for the fourth straight day reflecting higher volumes on CP with both railways now above 7,000 loaded cars on line.

Cars Not Moving

· The system count of idle cars increased significantly Friday and Saturday of last week peaking above 6,000 cars on a system basis.  While this was driven in part by the New Year’s holiday, it comes on the heels of a significant build up in idle car counts the week prior at Christmas which had still not been completely eliminated.  While much improved yesterday, counts remain very high at more than 5,300 cars.

Port Unloads

· West coast unloads (1,519) saw their best day in two months reflecting strong unloads at both west coast ports.  Thunder Bay reported fewer than 150 unloads yesterday.

* 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).All daily network status reports are available on the Pulse Canada website

For more information, go to www.agtransportcoalition.com