CP Rail Ready To Move This Year's Crop

CP Rail says it's ready to move this year's crop.

The total crop to move is estimated to be 83.4 million metric tonnes, a 5 percent increase over the previous five-year average.

"Our agricultural shippers have needs that are unique within our book of business, and we believe an ongoing dialogue with those companies is essential to understanding and meeting their needs," said Joan Hardy, CP's Vice President Sales and Marketing – Grain and Fertilizers. "Our plans for moving this year's crop reflect that."

The railway notes it moved 25.8 million metric tonnes of western Canadian grain and grain products, soybeans and other non-regulated principal field crops during the 2017-2018 crop year. That's up 1 percent over the 2016-2017 crop-year and 1 percent above its three-year average.

September 2017 was CP's biggest-ever month for moving Canadian grain.

CP announced plans to invest half a billion dollars in new high-capacity grain hoppers to replace the aging low-capacity Government of Canada fleet. The new hoppers will carry up to 10 percent more grain per car and the shorter design will allow 5 percent more cars per train, resulting in 15 percent more grain per train. The company will add more than 500 of these cars by the end of the calendar year, and 1,000 by the end of the first quarter of 2019 as part of its plan to purchase 5,900 new hoppers over the next four years.