Service Update – All Modes

Blanked sailings by container lines continue to be reported by various publications.

There are wide-spread reports of service delays on CN in recent weeks from FMA member companies and also reported by other industry associations, primarily related to bulk commodity carload traffic. These reports are coming from across the country.

The transportation media have reported that CN had furloughed over 4,000 employees and placed 14,500 cars in storage. As the recovery progressed, there appears to have been some imbalance in recalling operating employees and returning equipment to service. The link to the following Inside Logistics report provides more details.

CN begins to recall some of its 4,000 laid off workers

Supply Chain Commentaries

AAR Canadian Rail Traffic Data – Week 31

North American rail volume for the first 31 weeks of 2020 was 19,385,373 carloads and intermodal units, down 11.6% compared with 2019.

Canadian railways reported 72,466 carloads for the week, down 11.2%, and 68,044 intermodal units, down 9.5% compared with the same week in 2019.

For the first 31 weeks of 2020, Canadian railroads reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 4,288,997 carloads, containers and trailers, down 8.5%. The detailed statistics for week 31 can be found at the first red bar below.

The graph at the second red bar below shows the trend of 2020 Canadian rail traffic in comparison to 2018 and 2019 volumes.

FMA Government Relations

FMA has continuing communications with Transport Canada Surface Policy and Marine Policy officials and with Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).

FMA Office Operations

FMA staff are primarily working from home. If you need to talk with us, please call me at 613-294-4569.

Updates are on the FMA Website

The FMA COVID-19 updates continue to be uploaded to the website and there is a link to them on the home page at www.fma-agf.ca .

The FMA updates focus only on the impacts of COVID-19 on supply chains.

Information and questions from members are encouraged and will be useful in our continuing outreach to FMA members and in our communications with the government and with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. All individual company information will be kept confidential.