Summary
The performance update for Grain Week 27 has restated net unfulfilled shipper demand on the basis of previously unreported rejected cars and railway cancellations related to hopper car ordering rules imposed by the railways at the beginning of the current grain year. While total unfulfilled shipper demand remains in excess of 22,000 cars for the current year the net unfulfilled demand – those orders that shippers continue to expect the railways to supply excluding orders associated with rejected cars, denied orders and railway cancellations – is now 11,209 orders.
Railway Car Supply – Grain Week 27
 CN spotted 3,581 hopper cars and CP spotted 2,985 hopper cars in the country in Grain Week 27 for a total supply of 6,566 cars – this included 3,408 cars that had been ordered for prior weeks. Grain Week 27 car spotting performance for CN was equivalent to its weekly average of 3,600 cars per week while CP spotting performance was below its YTD average performance of approximately 3,600 cars per week.
o In Grain Week 27 CN and CP supplied 2,798 (32%) of the 8,693 hopper cars ordered for delivery in Grain Week 27 representing a shortfall of 5,895 cars for Grain Week 27 orders.
o In the crop year to date, railways have supplied 43% of customer orders in the week for which cars were ordered with CN providing 56% of cars for the week they were ordered and CP 30% of cars in the week they were ordered.
ï‚· Through the first 27 weeks of the current crop year, railways have failed to supply 22,488 hopper cars ordered by shippers. This represents a shortfall equivalent to 11% of shipper demand. The number of hopper car orders not filled by both CN and CP has continued to increase each week since the beginning of the crop year; overall, unfulfilled orders have levelled off at about 10% of total shipper demand in recent weeks indicating that the railways are not making up ground for prior week shortfalls.
o more than 2,500 customer orders – approximately 22% of unfulfilled orders - have been outstanding for 4 weeks or longer [1]
ï‚· Boxcar shippers received 65% of cars ordered for Grain Week 27. This represents a drop in performance following 4 consecutive weeks of strong performance for this shipper group. Year to date fulfillment remains at 65% of shipper orders.
Corridor Performance
ï‚· In Grain Week 27, uncharacteristic with performance experienced thus far this year, traffic destined to bulk terminals in Western Canada received a lower percentage (31%) of cars than other corridors. By comparison, non-bulk corridors including the USA/Mexico, Vancouver transload and Canadian domestic corridors received 40% of cars ordered for delivery in Grain Week 27.
ï‚· While CN fulfilled 65% of orders in non-bulk corridors, CP supplied 23% of cars for current week orders in Grain Week 27 in non-bulk corridors.
Railway Dwell Times at Country Origins:
 In Grain Week 27, CN’s loaded dwell times for multicar block traffic at country origin locations averaged 46 hours while CP’s loaded dwell times averaged 57 hours. CN’s performance in Grain Week 27 is worse than its
[1] Based on net unfulfilled demand – excluding rejections, cancellations and denied orders – of 11,209.
Page 2
YTD average of 41 hours; CP performance improved in Grain Week 27 from the prior week and was slightly lower than its YTD average dwell time of 60 hours.
o In the crop year to date, 34% of all bulk grain shipments have waited for more than 48 hours at origin for pick up by the railways after being released by shippers for movement to destination. 29% of shipments were picked up within 24 hours.
Railway Dwell Times at Destination Terminals – Grain Week 24:
ï‚· CN: Thunder Bay (63 hours), Vancouver bulk (16 hours) and Vancouver transload/local (91ours)
ï‚· CP : Thunder Bay (77 hours), Vancouver bulk (23 hours) and Vancouver transload/local (103 hours)
ï‚· Thunder Bay dwell times are based on limited traffic volumes as shipments to this terminal have slowed in recent weeks.
The performance update for Grain Week 27 has restated net unfulfilled shipper demand on the basis of previously unreported rejected cars and railway cancellations related to hopper car ordering rules imposed by the railways at the beginning of the current grain year. While total unfulfilled shipper demand remains in excess of 22,000 cars for the current year the net unfulfilled demand – those orders that shippers continue to expect the railways to supply excluding orders associated with rejected cars, denied orders and railway cancellations – is now 11,209 orders.
Railway Car Supply – Grain Week 27
 CN spotted 3,581 hopper cars and CP spotted 2,985 hopper cars in the country in Grain Week 27 for a total supply of 6,566 cars – this included 3,408 cars that had been ordered for prior weeks. Grain Week 27 car spotting performance for CN was equivalent to its weekly average of 3,600 cars per week while CP spotting performance was below its YTD average performance of approximately 3,600 cars per week.
o In Grain Week 27 CN and CP supplied 2,798 (32%) of the 8,693 hopper cars ordered for delivery in Grain Week 27 representing a shortfall of 5,895 cars for Grain Week 27 orders.
o In the crop year to date, railways have supplied 43% of customer orders in the week for which cars were ordered with CN providing 56% of cars for the week they were ordered and CP 30% of cars in the week they were ordered.
ï‚· Through the first 27 weeks of the current crop year, railways have failed to supply 22,488 hopper cars ordered by shippers. This represents a shortfall equivalent to 11% of shipper demand. The number of hopper car orders not filled by both CN and CP has continued to increase each week since the beginning of the crop year; overall, unfulfilled orders have levelled off at about 10% of total shipper demand in recent weeks indicating that the railways are not making up ground for prior week shortfalls.
o more than 2,500 customer orders – approximately 22% of unfulfilled orders - have been outstanding for 4 weeks or longer [1]
ï‚· Boxcar shippers received 65% of cars ordered for Grain Week 27. This represents a drop in performance following 4 consecutive weeks of strong performance for this shipper group. Year to date fulfillment remains at 65% of shipper orders.
Corridor Performance
ï‚· In Grain Week 27, uncharacteristic with performance experienced thus far this year, traffic destined to bulk terminals in Western Canada received a lower percentage (31%) of cars than other corridors. By comparison, non-bulk corridors including the USA/Mexico, Vancouver transload and Canadian domestic corridors received 40% of cars ordered for delivery in Grain Week 27.
ï‚· While CN fulfilled 65% of orders in non-bulk corridors, CP supplied 23% of cars for current week orders in Grain Week 27 in non-bulk corridors.
Railway Dwell Times at Country Origins:
 In Grain Week 27, CN’s loaded dwell times for multicar block traffic at country origin locations averaged 46 hours while CP’s loaded dwell times averaged 57 hours. CN’s performance in Grain Week 27 is worse than its
[1] Based on net unfulfilled demand – excluding rejections, cancellations and denied orders – of 11,209.
Page 2
YTD average of 41 hours; CP performance improved in Grain Week 27 from the prior week and was slightly lower than its YTD average dwell time of 60 hours.
o In the crop year to date, 34% of all bulk grain shipments have waited for more than 48 hours at origin for pick up by the railways after being released by shippers for movement to destination. 29% of shipments were picked up within 24 hours.
Railway Dwell Times at Destination Terminals – Grain Week 24:
ï‚· CN: Thunder Bay (63 hours), Vancouver bulk (16 hours) and Vancouver transload/local (91ours)
ï‚· CP : Thunder Bay (77 hours), Vancouver bulk (23 hours) and Vancouver transload/local (103 hours)
ï‚· Thunder Bay dwell times are based on limited traffic volumes as shipments to this terminal have slowed in recent weeks.
Comment