MONTREAL — Canada's two main railways notched another record-setting quarter for grain shipments, benefiting from efficient cars, strong global demand and more available capacity due to fewer shipments of other products amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Canadian National Railway Co. said it moved 7.76 million tonnes of grain in the third quarter and 2.81 million in September alone, both new records for their time periods that amount to seven straight months of unprecedented volume.

The Montreal-based railway beat its previous third-quarter best of 6.9 million tonnes in 2014 by 12 per cent, and its previous September high of 2.6 million tonnes from the same year by eight per cent.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. reported moving 7.72 million tonnes last quarter, 11 per cent more than its previous third-quarter record of 6.97 million tonnes set in 2014 as it marked the fourth consecutive quarter of record grain volumes.

CP also shipped more grain last month than any previous September, moving 2.8 million tonnes to beat its September 2017 record by about eight per cent.

The Calgary-based company said its higher-capacity hopper cars were key to the unprecedented volume and, in combination with longer trains, can carry at least 40 per cent more grain than the 7,000-foot train model.

CP now has 3,200 new hoppers in its fleet.

The ongoing grain windfalls this year have helped offset vastly diminished auto and metals shipments amid fallout from the pandemic, and have partly been made possible because of them.

"Shipping in other sectors is down due to COVID-19... That’s starting to creep upwards again, but it’s not at the levels it was back in January of 2020. So grain tends to fill that," said Wade Sobkowich, head of the Western Grain Elevator Association.

"When there’s a downturn in demand for lumber or oil and gas fertilizer or manufactured good, they can turn back the taps on supply. In the grain sector it doesn't’ work like that," he said. "In fact when the prices get worse for grain, farmers tend to want to grow more, not less."

Meanwhile Canadian grain remains in high demand as shippers try to feed a growing appetite from mills and governments seeking to shore up staple reserves amid the pandemic.

Grain exports are up 26 per cent year to date compared to 2019, reaching 3.62 million tonnes through August. Particularly hot are wheat, canola and barley — the latter two have big markets for beer-making and canola oil-processing in China and Indonesia, respectively.

“It was global demand that drove that strong pace of grain movement," said David Przednowek, director of sales and marketing for bulk at CN.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2020.

Companies in this story: (TSX:CNR, TSX:CP)

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