MONTREAL – Canadian National Railway Co. executives say wildfires and tariff threats are unlikely to do major damage to shipping volumes this year, after the country’s largest railway beat earnings expectations for the quarter and raised financial projections for 2026.
CN said tracks in northwestern Ontario have now reopened after shutting down for more than a week due to wildfires that forced one crew to flee on foot and traffic to be rerouted through the United States.
“Our mainline in northern Ontario is open at this point, and we currently do not expect a significant impact to our business,” chief operating officer Patrick Whitehead told analysts on a conference call Friday.
On the tariff front, CN’s chief executive held out hope that U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff proclamations — a 50 per cent duty on a raft of Canadian goods set to take effect Aug. 19 — would resolve in a “constructive agreement” between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
“What we’ve embedded in our guidance as we look forward is a tariff level that looks a lot like what it is right now,” CEO Tracy Robinson said.
The railway raised its full-year guidance Friday, forecasting mild volume growth versus the flattish figures predicted six months ago. It also now expects adjusted diluted earnings per share growth in the mid-to-high single digits instead of the low single-digit range.
The more optimistic outlook comes after CN raked in revenue from oil as well as grain and fertilizer shipments in its second quarter.
Revenues soared 16 per cent year-over-year for petroleum and chemicals and 18 per cent for grain and fertilizer. The two categories alone accounted for 42 per cent of CN’s freight revenues.
The price of petroleum and some fertilizers have spiked since late February amid supply bottlenecks brought on by the Middle East war, which helped push CN’s potash volumes to record second-quarter levels. A bumper crop also delivered record shipments of Western grain, the company said.
On Friday, Robinson addressed a deal that CN struck earlier this week with Union Pacific Corp. that would end the Montreal-based company’s opposition to its rival’s proposal for a massive merger south of the border.
The agreement would hand CN more network access in the U.S. Midwest in exchange for its tacit support of Union Pacific’s proposed US$85-billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern Corp. The settlement is contingent on the merger’s approval by American regulators.
“We’ve been talking a lot about the need for more competition,” Robinson said. “So as we’ve come to this agreement, we are satisfied that we’ve mitigated much of that concern.
“We won’t have a large voice in the merger considerations as we go forward,” the CEO added.
Competitors and customers worry the merger would cost shippers — and ultimately consumers — as well as placing unprecedented market power in the hands of a single railway, which would handle some 40 per cent of American freight traffic.
Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern argue that getting hitched would slash costs and prompt rivals to lower their rates to compete.
A second deal with UP announced Wednesday would also give CN a quicker route to Mexico from Canada.
“It’s not just southbound, it’s northbound,” Robinson said. Automotive and container shipments as well as commodities would be among freight hauled, she said.
On Friday, CN reported that net income increased seven per cent year-over-year to $1.25 billion for the three months ended June 30. Total revenues jumped 11 per cent to $4.75 billion from the same period a year earlier on higher fuel surcharges as well as the income from oil, grain and fertilizer.
On an adjusted basis, CN earned $2.08 per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from $1.87 per diluted share a year ago and far outpacing analysts’ expectations of $1.96, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2026.
Companies in this story: (TSX:CNR)
