US weekly chemical railcar traffic rises 4%

22 May 2008 17:15  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--US chemical railcar traffic for the week ended 17 May rose 4% from the same week last year, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) said on Thursday.

 

Chemical railcar loadings for the week totalled 31,397, compared with 30,200 for the same week in 2007, the association said.

 

Total chemical railcar loadings in the year-to-date period through to 17 May were 624,095, up 3.0% from the same period in 2007.

 

The AAR did not cite reasons for the increase in weekly chemicals shipments.

 

Analysts consider rail shipment data to be a good early indicator of current chemical industry activity. Railroads transport more than 20% of the chemicals produced in the US.

 

Railcar loadings for all 19 commodities tracked by the AAR for the week were 331,199.

 

This reflects a slight decrease of 0.1% compared with 331,627 in the same week of 2007 as gains in loadings for grain, coal and chemicals were offset by lower loadings for motor vehicles and equipment, lumber and wood products and primary forest products.

 

Overall railcar loadings for the 19 commodity categories listed by the AAR reached 6.5m in the year to date, up 1.2% compared with the same period of 2007.

 

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By: Stefan Baumgarten
+1 713 525 2653

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