With the end of the crop year coming up on July 31st, we are starting to see a seasonal slowdownof grain movement.
CN's Assistant Vice President of Grain, David Przednowek says even with the seasonal decline, they have still registered just over half a million tonnes of grain movement per week over the past couple of weeks.
"We are seeing the demand for CN supply hopper cars for grain movement decline. You know, in the past couple of weeks we've seen orders for CN supply equipment in that 3334 car per week range. "
He notes if you go back four or five weeks ago, the numbers were in the 4300 car per week average. So you can see how the demand is declining, right now.
The new crop year is set to begin August 1st.
Przednowek notes CN sees investing in infrastructure as being a key to their success. He notes that over the years CN has invested over $31 billion in capital since 2015 and that investment continues to have an impact.
"If you take a look at the average grain shipment program on CN during peak period demand and when I say peak period, I mean September and November kind of right with harvest and right after harvest, and then you know in the dead of winter, December to February. In those two windows compared to 15 years ago, the average weekly grain shipment program on CN during those two periods is over 75 per cent higher now than it was 15 years ago. "
He notes by working together as an industry we can achieve real results, farmers, country elevators and grain terminals have also made big investments in their own operations that tie in with CN's investment.