CN Profit Falls 16.5 Percent to $439 Million

Canadian National Railway’s net income slid 16.5 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier to $439 million, on an 18 percent drop in revenue to $1.758 billion.

The company’s profit level at 25 percent of revenue was up mildly from a 24.5 percent profit in the 2008 third quarter.

The latest period “was another challenging one for CN, with significant weakness across markets affecting our freight volumes,” said President and CEO E. Hunter Harrison.

However, “it appears that several of our markets may have hit bottom,” he said, adding that CN’s gains in productivity position it well for the eventual volume recovery.

Revenue ton-miles, a measure of traffic separate from units moved, fell 11 percent from a year earlier. Harrison said “that was a sequential improvement” from a 14 percent drop in the second quarter.

Overall carload and intermodal volume fell 15 percent to 1.032 million units originated, with intermodal traffic alone down 10 percent to 333,000 units.

CN took over suburban Chicago short line Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway on Jan. 31. It said from then through Sept. 30 EJ&E contributed about $52 million in revenue and over $12 million in net income.

Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.