A Freight Growth Summary for Canadian Pacific Railway in Week 25

In this article, we’ll take a look at Canadian Pacific Railway’s (CP) overall traffic. The company’s overall freight traffic also consists of its intermodal volumes.

In the week ended June 24, 2017, CP’s carloads excluding intermodal volumes rose 10.5%. Canadian Pacific hauled ~33,000 railcars in the week, compared to ~30,000 in the same week last year.

CP’s railcar volumes excluding coal and coke rose 12.2% in the 25th week of 2017 to settle at over 26,000 units, compared to over 23,000 units in the same week in 2016. In contrast to Canadian National Railway’s (CNI) coal volume fall, CP’s coal and coke railcars rose 4.2% in the reported week of 2017.

The commodity groups whose volumes rose in week 25 were as follows:

• grain
• potash
• fertilizer and sulfur
• energy, chemicals, and plastics
• metals, minerals, and consumer products

The commodities that saw falls in their volumes were as follows:

• forest products
• automotive

Canadian Pacific saw its intermodal volumes rise 5.6% in the week ended June 24, 2017. The company’s overall intermodal traffic rose to over 19,000 units, compared to over 18,000 containers and trailers in the corresponding week in 2016.

Those interested in exposure to transportation stocks may want to invest in the iShares Global Industrials ETF (EXI). GE makes up 6.6% of EXI’s portfolio. Other major industrial names in this ETF include 3M Company (MMM), Honeywell International (HON), United Technologies (UTX), Union Pacific (UNP), and United Parcel Service (UPS).