CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA –Canadian Pacific (CP) on Nov. 3 announced that it broke its all-time monthly record for shipping Canadian grain and grain products, moving 3.14 million tonnes in October 2022, breaking the previous monthly record set in October 2020 by more than 100,000 tonnes.

“This remarkable achievement is a testament to the collaboration between CP and our customers, to our railroaders, and to the hard work of so many throughout the supply chain,” said Joan Hardy, CP’s vice president of sales and marketing grain and fertilizers. “Transporting record volumes of grain would not be possible without the significant investment that has been made by our customers in new and upgraded grain-handling capacity and investment made by CP in infrastructure and high-capacity hopper cars. CP’s 8,500-foot High Efficiency Product model is adding much-needed capacity to allow more grain to move than ever before.”

Through the first 13 weeks of the 2022-2023 crop year, CP shipped more than 6.9 million tonnes of grain and grain products, the company said.

“At Viterra, we’ve been making steady and targeted investments in our asset network over the last several years to ensure we can provide our farm customers with a high level of service,” said Kyle Jeworski, Viterra’s chief executive officer for Canada. “By working closely together with CP, we aim to keep our supply chain as fluid as possible and support the efficient movement of commodities through our network. As we head into winter and critical shipping months for our industry, it’s important that we keep up this momentum and support Canada’s reputation as a safe and reliable supplier of food ingredients.”

This year CP is completing its $500 million investment to acquire 5,900 new high-capacity grain hopper cars as part of the company's commitment to the agriculture sector. Including leased hoppers within CP’s fleet, CP grain customers can expect to see more than 7,300 new high-capacity hoppers in active service by the end of 2022, enabling the transportation of more grain in each train.

“Canada has a healthy freight rail system that is safe and efficient, delivering high performance and strong service to shippers at among the lowest costs in the world,” said Hardy. “The significant volumes of grain and grain products moving on our railway exceed the supply commitments outlined in our annual grain plan. It is critical that all supply chain participants, including customer loading facilities and terminal operators loading grain into vessels at ports, operate at full capacity to sustain this strong momentum.”

Meanwhile, CP’s Canadian rail rival, CN, announced on Nov. 2 that October was the single best month ever for Western Canadian grain movement on CN’s network