US weekly chemical railcar traffic rises 2.2%

19 June 2008 16:54  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--US chemical railcar traffic for the week ended 14 June rose 2.2% from the same week last year, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) said on Thursday.

 

Chemical railcar loadings for the week totalled 30,405, compared with 29,764 for the same week in 2007, the association said.

 

Total chemical railcar loadings in the year-to-date period through to 14 June were 749,086, up 3.2% over 726,158 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 324,337, down 4.4% from 339,357 in the same week of 2007, partly due to the floods that hampered transport in the US Midwest, the association said.

 

Overall railcar loadings for the 19 commodity categories listed by the AAR reached 7.8m year to date, up 0.6% when compared with the same period of 2007.

 

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By: Stefan Baumgarten
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