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Canadian Pacific executives used terms like “brutal” and the “toughest winter in more than 30 years” to describe the severe weather’s chilling impact on CP’s first-quarter financial results.

“The first quarter was an extremely difficult winter with weather-related outages significantly constraining our capacity and our service to customers,” said CP President and Chief Executive Officer Fred Green during an April 21 earnings conference.

Net income for the quarter fell 67 percent to $33.7 million, or 20 cents per diluted share, compared with $101 million, or 60 cents per diluted share, in the same period a year ago. CP reported all figures in Canadian dollars. In addition, volume fell 19.1 percent year over year to 605,900 units.

In his final earnings call, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer Ed Harris, who recently announced his retirement effective April 1, summed up the quarter as “the toughest winter” he had experienced in more than 30 years of railroading. The season included a one-in-30-year avalanche cycle, record snowfalls across the U.S. Midwest, reduced capacity and supply-chain problems, Harris said.

First-quarter revenue dipped slightly to $1.16 billion from $1.17 billion and operating income dropped 47 percent to $109.2 million from $206.6 million a year ago. By commodity group, grain revenue fell 14 percent; coal revenue dropped 4 percent; sulphur and fertilizer revenue increased 10 percent; forest products revenue rose 5 percent; industrial and consumer products revenue jumped 12 percent; automotive revenue grew 3 percent; and intermodal revenue fell 0.2 percent.

The weather — and rising fuel prices — caused operating expenses to increase to $1 billion vs. $960 million a year ago. Fuel expenses rose 28 percent.

CP’s operating ratio jumped 8.3 points to 90.6 compared with 82.3 in first-quarter 2010.

Green described the start of the year as an “anomaly” and anticipates CP will recover quickly after spring flooding subsides.

“Demand remains very strong,” he said. In addition, the railroad remains committed to delivering its two- to four-year target of a low 70s operating ratio, Green said.

Meanwhile, during a question-and-answer period, Harris dismissed concerns about his decision to retire. The position, which he accepted about a year ago after a 38-year CN career and a short retirement, required too much travel time away from his family, he said, adding that he will continue to serve CP on a consulting basis.

— Julie Sneider