Service Update – All Modes

Ocean Shipping

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

Rail

CN

Following from Update #55, there continue wide-spread reports of service delays on CN in recent weeks from FMA member companies and also from other industry associations, primarily related to bulk commodity carload traffic. These reports are coming from across the country.

Earlier this month, the Coalition of Rail Shippers (CRS), representing 17 industry associations, wrote to the Minister of Transport regarding the chronic service problems reported on CN. The letter can be found by clicking on the first red bar below. To date, no response has been received from the Minister.

CP

FMA and other members of the CRS are not hearing similar complaints on CP service.

CP has provided the following comments on last week’s on-time deliveries and outlook for this week.

CP expects operating conditions to remain favourable across the network. Demand is starting to increase across most fleets. Demand is high for Centerbeams in particular.

Car velocity is strong which is contributing to high levels of order fulfillment across the network.

Carload on-time performance week ending August 22: 89.2% (previous week: 90.2%)

Air Cargo

Air Canada announced new cargo flights between Toronto and Delhi effective August 15.

Trucking

On August 21, Transport Canada announced a new federal safety guidance to protect drivers and limit the spread of COVID-19 in trucking operations. It is intended for use by fleet managers and commercial vehicle drivers undertaking local, inter-provincial or inter-territorial, and international activity. The link to the Guidance Document can be found at the second red bar below.

Supply Chain Commentaries

AAR Canadian Rail Traffic Data – Week 34

North American rail volume for the first 34 weeks of 2020 was 21,420,948 carloads and intermodal units, down 11.2% compared with 2019.

Canadian railways reported 71,766 carloads for the week, down 14.2%, and 68,970 intermodal units, down 5.8% compared with the same week in 2019.

For the first 34 weeks of 2020, Canadian railroads reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 4,713,185 carloads, containers and trailers, down 8.6%. The detailed statistics for week 34 can be found at the third red bar below.

The graph at the fourth 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) on Supply Chain recovery efforts.

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.

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.