With revenue down across every segment of its freight business, Canadian National Railway (CN) was still able to post more revenue per carload in grain handling in its third quarter (Q3).
Montreal-based CN on Tuesday posted profit of $461 million on $1.85 billion in revenues during its quarter ending Sept. 30, down from $552 million on $2.26 billion in the year-earlier period.
“It appears that several of our markets may have hit bottom,” CN CEO Hunter Harrison said in the company’s release. “Our productivity gains during 2009 position us well for the eventual recovery in traffic.”
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CN’s lower Q3 revenues were due largely to “significantly lower freight volumes in almost all markets as a result of prevailing economic conditions in the North American and global economies,” the company said, also citing the impact of a lower fuel surcharge due to year-over-year decreases in applicable fuel prices, as well as lower freight volumes.
All CN’s freight commodity groups saw Q3 revenue decline, the company said, ranging from grain and fertilizers, down nine per cent at $298 million compared to $327 million in the year-earlier period, to metals and minerals, down 32 per cent at $183 million.
In terms of carloads hauled, the grain and fertilizer group was down 12 per cent in CN’s Q3 at about 121,000. The only segment to see an increase in carloads hauled was coal, up 13 per cent at 116,000.
Grains and fertilizers were one of only two segments to post an increase in revenue per carload, up three per cent at $2,463. Metals and minerals were also up three per cent at $968.
In the nine months of fiscal 2009 to date, CN’s grain and fertilizer revenue is down two per cent at $985 million, though grain and fertilizer revenue per carload is up 12 per cent at $2,572.
