Footnotes
1A-1 Western Canadian Field Crop Production 4C-2 Multiple Car Block Incentives and Indexes
1A-2 Western Canadian Carry-Forward Stock 4D-1 Terminal Elevator Handling Charges and Indexes – Elevation
2A-1 Shipments from Primary Elevators 4D-1 Terminal Elevator Handling Charges and Indexes – Storage
2B-1 Western Canada to Western Canada - All traffic 5A-1 Average Primary Elevator Capacity Turnover Ratio
2B-5 Western Canada to Western Canada - Hopper Cars 5A-2 Average Weekly Primary Elevator Stock Level
2B-8 Western Canada to Eastern Canada - All Traffic 5A-3 Average Days-in-Store – Primary Elevators
2B-12 Western Canada to Eastern Canada - Hopper Cars 5A-4 Average Weekly Stock-to-Shipment Ratios – Primary Elevators
2B-15 Western Canada to North America - All Traffic 5B-1 Western Canada Destined Car Cycle - All Traffic
2B-20 Average Weekly Loads on Wheels 5B-4 Western Canada Destined Railway Loaded Transit Time - All Traffic
2C-1 Western Port Throughput - Shipments from Terminal Elevators 5B-5 Eastern Canada Destined Railway Car Cycle - All Traffic
2C-2 Western Port Hopper Car Unloads 5B-8 Eastern Canada Destined Railway Loaded Transit Time - All Traffic
2D-1 Truck Shipments to United States 5B-9 US Destined Railway Car Cycle - All Traffic
3A-1 Primary and Process Grain Elevators – Province 5B-12 US Destined Railway Loaded Transit Time - All Traffic
3A-2 Primary and Process Grain Elevators – Railway Class 5C-2 Average Weekly Terminal Elevator Stock Level
3A-3 Primary and Process Grain Elevators – Grain Company 5C-3 Average Days-in-Store - Terminal Elevators
3B-1 Railway Infrastructure – Province 5C-4 Average Weekly Stock-to-Shipment Ratio – Terminal Elevators
3B-2 Average Weekly Grain Hopper Fleet Size 5C-5 Terminal Performance - Out-of-Car Time
3C-1 Terminal Elevators – Port 5D-1 Average Vessel Time in Port
4B-1 Primary Elevator Handling Charges and Indexes – Elevation 5D-4 Annual Vessel Demurrage Costs and Dispatch Earnings
4B-1 Primary Elevator Handling Charges and Indexes – Cleaning 5D-8 Annual Port Terminal Handling Revenue
4B-1 Primary Elevator Handling Charges and Indexes – Storage 5E-1 Total Time in the Supply Chain
4C-1 Railway Freight Rates and Indexes 6B-1 Producer Car Loading Sites
6B-2 Producer Cars Scheduled


1A-1 Western Canadian Field Crop Production

  • Other includes triticale, mixed grains and other as reported by Statistics Canada.

1A-2 Western Canadian Carry-Forward Stock

  • Denotes carry-forward stock at the beginning of each crop year.
  • Farm Stock as reported by Statistics Canada.
  • Primary Elevator Stock as reported by Canadian Grain Commission.

2A-1 Shipments from Primary Elevators

  • Includes outbound rail and truck shipments.

2B-1 Western Canada to Western Canada - All traffic

  • Includes all railway grain traffic that originated in Western Canada and was destined to points therein.
  • The grain volumes depicted herein include movements made with covered hopper cars, boxcars, tankcars, trailers, containers and other railway equipment.
  • Shipments to Western Canada are summarized in two groups: those destined to the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Churchill and Thunder Bay; and those destined to points outside of these areas, collectively identified as Western Domestic.

2B-5 Western Canada to Western Canada - Hopper Cars

  • Includes all railway grain traffic moving in covered hopper cars that originated in Western Canada and destined to points therein.
  • Shipments to Western Canada are summarized in two groups: those destined to the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Churchill and Thunder Bay; and those destined to points outside of these areas, collectively identified as Western Domestic.

2B-8 Western Canada to Eastern Canada - All Traffic

  • Includes all railway grain traffic that originated in Western Canada and destined to points in Eastern Canada.
  • The grain volumes depicted herein include movements made with covered hopper cars, boxcars, tankcars, trailers, containers and other railway equipment.
  • Shipments to Eastern Canada are grouped into two destination terminal sectors: St Lawrence (comprising terminals situated in the ports of Halifax, Quebec City and Montreal); and Lower Great Lakes (comprising terminals in the port of Toronto).
  • Shipments to points that are outside of these terminal sectors are collectively identified as Eastern Domestic.

2B-12 Western Canada to Eastern Canada - Hopper Cars

  • Includes all railway grain traffic moving in covered hopper cars that originated in Western Canada and destined to points in eastern Canada.
  • Shipments to Eastern Canada are grouped into two destination terminal sectors: St Lawrence (comprising terminals situated in the ports of Halifax, Quebec City and Montreal); and Lower Great Lakes (comprising terminals in the port of Toronto).
  • Shipments to points that are outside of these terminal sectors are collectively identified as Eastern Domestic.

2B-15 Western Canada to North America - All Traffic

  • Includes all railway grain traffic originating in Western Canada and destined to points in Canada, the United States and Mexico.
  • The grain volumes depicted herein include movements made with covered hopper cars, boxcars, tankcars, trailers, containers and other railway equipment.

2B-20 Average Weekly Loads on Wheels

  • Denotes a weekly average of the loaded railcars in route to the specified destination region.

2C-1 Western Port Throughput - Shipments from Terminal Elevators

  • Other comprises all shipments of other grains, oilseeds & special crops covered by the Canada Grain Act that are included in the CGC Shipment Data Warehouse.

2C-2 Western Port Hopper Car Unloads

  • Includes covered hopper car unloads at licensed terminal elevators.
  • Classification by carrier is based on originating point.

2D-1 Truck Shipments to United States

  • Shipments to the United States are grouped into four destination territories: Northeast (comprising the states of CT, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI and VT); Midwest (comprising the states of IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD and WI); West (comprising the states of AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA and WY); and South (comprising the states of AL, AR, DC, DE, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA and WV).

3A-1 Primary and Process Grain Elevators – Province

  • The Canadian Grain Commission produces periodic listings of all licensed elevators in Western Canada. The information presented here reflects the accounting at the close of the period cited.
  • Grain delivery points denote the number of geographic locations at which primary and process elevator facilities are situated. A single grain delivery point may encompass more than one elevator.

3A-2 Primary and Process Grain Elevators – Railway Class

  • The Canadian Grain Commission produces periodic listings of all licensed elevators in Western Canada. The information presented here reflects the accounting at the close of the period cited.
  • The classes used here to group railways are based on industry convention: Class 1 carriers denote railways such as CN and CP; Class 2 carriers, regional railways such as BC Rail; and Class 3 carriers, shortline operations such as those of the Central Manitoba Railway and the Great Western Railway.
  • Some primary and process elevator facilities are "not on track," and do not have direct physical access to the services of a local railway. This arises by way of either a conscious construction decision or the abandonment of the local railway line that previously provided service to the facility.

3A-3 Primary and Process Grain Elevators – Grain Company

  • The Canadian Grain Commission produces periodic listings of all licensed elevators in Western Canada. The information presented here reflects the accounting at the close of the period cited.
  • Elevators associated with the predecessor companies of today’s G3 Canada Limited and Viterra Inc., which were previously identified as separate entities, have been combined to reflect their continuation under new corporate names. All associated predecessor data has been restated for reporting consistency.

3B-1 Railway Infrastructure – Province

  • Includes all railway route-miles west of Armstrong and Thunder Bay, Ontario, except where such mileage is operated by a non-common carrier (i.e., Greater Winnipeg Water District, Alberta Prairie Excursions Railway, etc.).
  • No provision is made for double tracked route segments, sidings, yard tracks or spurs except when specifically identified as a grain-dependent branch line under the Canada Transportation Act (1996).
  • The classes used here to group railways are based on industry convention: Class 1 carriers denote major railways such as CN and CP; Class 2 carriers, regional railways such as BC Rail; and Class 3 carriers, shortline operations such as those of the Central Manitoba Railway and the Great Western Railway.
  • In order to track changes in the ownership and operation of grain-dependent branch lines (GDBL), GDBL are deemed to be those specifically identified as such in Schedule I of the Canada Transportation Act (1996).
  • Alberta includes route-miles found within the Northwest Territories.

3B-2 Average Weekly Grain Hopper Fleet Size

  • Denotes a weekly average of the hopper cars deployed for the movement of Western Canadian grain.

3C-1 Terminal Elevators – Port

  • The Canadian Grain Commission produces periodic listings of all licensed elevators in Western Canada. The information presented here reflects the accounting at the close of the period cited.
  • The classes used here to group terminal grain elevators are based on the number of railway car spots tied to each facility: 1-49 are designated as Class E; 50 or more, Class F.

4B-1 Primary Elevator Handling Charges and Indexes – Elevation

  • Published tariffs represent the maximum that companies may charge.

4B-1 Primary Elevator Handling Charges and Indexes – Cleaning

  • Published tariffs represent the maximum that companies may charge.

4B-1 Primary Elevator Handling Charges and Indexes – Storage

  • Charges are based on each day or part thereof in storage.
  • Published tariffs represent the maximum that companies may charge.

4C-1 Railway Freight Rates and Indexes

  • The single-car freight rates depicted here are geographic composites based on all stations having a published tariff rate to the destination indicated at the close of the period cited.
  • A Paasche index is used to gauge the relative change in railway pricing over time. The differential is based on a comparison of the station-specific rates common to both the base year and the cited reporting period, with 1 August 1999.

4C-2 Multiple Car Block Incentives and Indexes

  • Multiple-car block incentives are expressed as a per-tonne discount from the single-car freight rates published in CN and CP tariffs.
  • The multiple-car block incentive programs offered by CN and CP - while similar in nature - have structural differences arising from the maximum number of cars that each carrier can accommodate in a single shipment. The structure depicted here is for comparison purposes only.

4D-1 Terminal Elevator Handling Charges and Indexes – Elevation

  • Published tariffs represent the maximum that companies may charge.

4D-1 Terminal Elevator Handling Charges and Indexes – Storage

  • Charges are based on each day or part thereof in storage.
  • Published tariffs represent the maximum that companies may charge.

5A-1 Average Primary Elevator Capacity Turnover Ratio

  • As determined by dividing total volume shipped by licensed storage capacity on a quarterly basis, aggregated for the crop year.

5A-2 Average Weekly Primary Elevator Stock Level

  • Monthly average based on reported weekly totals.

5A-3 Average Days-in-Store – Primary Elevators

  • Average days in store as determined from the number of days in each period divided by the average inventory turnover ratio (total shipments divided by average weekly stock level).

5A-4 Average Weekly Stock-to-Shipment Ratios – Primary Elevators

  • Weekly ending primary elevator stock levels divided by the following week’s shipments, aggregated to determine quarterly and annual averages.
  • Weeks with ratios greater than 25 (due to extremely small shipment tonnage) have been removed from the average.

5B-1 Western Canada Destined Car Cycle - All Traffic

  • The car cycle information presented is drawn from useable data supplied by CN and CP to Transport Canada. Not all movements are captured due to the incomplete nature of these data records.
  • To mitigate the influence of the most extreme "outlying" data points, records with cycles in excess of 90 days are excluded from calculation of the summary statistics.

5B-4 Western Canada Destined Railway Loaded Transit Time - All Traffic

  • The loaded transit times presented are drawn from useable data supplied by CN and CP to Transport Canada. Not all movements are captured due to the incomplete nature of these data records.
  • The count identifies the number of cars that are included in the calculation of each geographic region's average loaded transit time, and weighted coefficient of variation.

5B-5 Eastern Canada Destined Railway Car Cycle - All Traffic

  • The car cycle information presented is drawn from useable data supplied by CN and CP to Transport Canada. Not all movements are captured due to the incomplete nature of these data records.
  • To mitigate the influence of the most extreme "outlying" data points, records with cycles in excess of 90 days are excluded from calculation of the summary statistics.

5B-8 Eastern Canada Destined Railway Loaded Transit Time - All Traffic

  • The loaded transit times presented are drawn from useable data supplied by CN and CP to Transport Canada. Not all movements are captured due to the incomplete nature of these data records.
  • The count identifies the number of cars that are included in the calculation of each geographic region's average loaded transit time, and weighted coefficient of variation.

5B-9 US Destined Railway Car Cycle - All Traffic

  • The car cycle information presented is drawn from useable data supplied by CN and CP to Transport Canada. Not all movements are captured due to the incomplete nature of these data records.
  • To mitigate the influence of the most extreme "outlying" data points, records with cycles in excess of 90 days are excluded from calculation of the summary statistics.

5B-12 US Destined Railway Loaded Transit Time - All Traffic

  • The loaded transit times presented are drawn from useable data supplied by CN and CP to Transport Canada. Not all movements are captured due to the incomplete nature of these data records.
  • The count identifies the number of cars that are included in the calculation of each geographic region's average loaded transit time, and weighted coefficient of variation.

5C-2 Average Weekly Terminal Elevator Stock Level

  • Monthly average based on reported weekly totals.

5C-3 Average Days-in-Store - Terminal Elevators

  • Average days in store as determined from the number of days in each period divided by the average inventory turnover ratio (total shipments divided by average weekly stock level).
  • Adjusted to reflect operating season at Thunder Bay and Churchill.

5C-4 Average Weekly Stock-to-Shipment Ratio – Terminal Elevators

  • Weekly ending terminal elevator stock levels divided by the following week’s shipments, aggregated to determine quarterly and annual averages.
  • Weeks with ratios greater than 25 (due to extremely small shipment tonnage) have been removed from the average.

5C-5 Terminal Performance - Out-of-Car Time

  • Out-of-car time is reported weekly and summarized monthly. Data is collected from terminal elevators on the total number of hours the facilities are open and staffed (including overtime hours) and the corresponding number of hours that terminals have no rail cars available to unload. The measure is expressed as a percentage (hours without cars to the total number of hours working).
  • A reporting change internal to one Vancouver terminal resulted in its out-of-car time data being unavailable for most of the 2019-2020 Crop Year. For consistency, this terminal's out-of-car time has been excluded from the 2019-2020 data. Regular reporting continues thereafter.

5D-1 Average Vessel Time in Port

  • For all vessels that finished loading and cleared during the applicable calendar month.

5D-4 Annual Vessel Demurrage Costs and Dispatch Earnings

  • Demurrage and dispatch apply to shipments made during each crop year, (may vary from figures presented in financial statements of the respective organizations).
  • Demurrage and dispatch data are un-audited.

5D-8 Annual Port Terminal Handling Revenue

  • Revenue components as developed by Western Grain Elevator Association members.
  • Miscellaneous Services/Other Revenues includes overtime loading charges, wharfage and berthage fees.
  • Grain and By-Products Revenues include grain, screenings, pelleting and periodic cut-off revenues earned by terminals.
  • Revenue data is un-audited.

5E-1 Total Time in the Supply Chain

  • The summary data presented here is drawn from other measures under the Grain Monitoring Program.
  • Quarterly data for terminal elevator storage time during the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 crop years is unavailable.

6B-1 Producer Car Loading Sites

  • The classes used here to group railways are based on industry convention: Class 1 carriers denote CN and CP; Class 2 carriers denote regional railways such as the former BC Rail; and Class 3 carriers denote shortline operations such as those of Great Western Railway Ltd. and Boundary Trail Railway Co.
  • The number of CN and CP producer loading sites presented "as at" the end of each quarter of each crop year, is based on the most recent published listing by each carrier.

6B-2 Producer Cars Scheduled

  • Any negative values reflect cancelations recorded during the period.