US weekly chemical railcar traffic falls 14.9% year on year

30 April 2009 16:19  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--US chemical railcar traffic fell 14.9% in the week ended on 25 April from the same week in 2008, marking the 34th straight decline, according to data released by an industry association on Thursday.

US chemical railcar loadings for the week were 27,292, down from 32,088 in the same week in 2008, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) said.

Sequentially, the decline compares with a 12.7% drop in the previous week ended on 18 April.

With railroads transporting more than 20% of the chemicals produced in the US, the weekly shipment data are a good early indicator of current chemical industry activity.

For the year-to-date period through 25 April, US chemical railcar loadings fell 17.8% to 411,532, down from 500,558 in the same period last year.

The AAR also provided comparable chemical railcar shipment data for Canada, Mexico and North America as a whole.

Canadian chemical rail traffic for the week ended on 25 April dropped 30.2% to 10,440, down from 14,957 in the same week last year.

For the year-to-date period, Canadian shipments were 180,630, a 26.8% decrease from 246,741 in the same period in 2008.

Mexican weekly chemical rail traffic rose 45.0% to 1,183 up from 816 in the same week a year earlier.

For the year-to-date period, Mexican shipments were 16,771, up 15.7% from 14,496 in the same period last year.

For all of North America, chemical railcar shipments totalled 38,915, down 18.7% from 47,861 in the same week in 2008.

For the year-to-date period, North American chemical railcar traffic was 608,933, down 20.1% from 761,795 in the same period last year.

Overall, the AAR tracks 19 carload commodity categories.

From the same week last year, US weekly railcar traffic for the 19 carload commodity categories fell 22.4% to 260,652, and dropped by 18.0% year to date to 4.29m.

For all of North America, railcar traffic sank 22.1% to 332,278 for the week, and fell 18.4% in the year-to-date period ended on 25 April to 5.44m.

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By: Stefan Baumgarten
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