UpdateUS weekly chemical railcar traffic jumps 12.7%

04 March 2010 19:29  [Source: ICIS news]

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TORONTO (ICIS news)--Chemical shipments on US railroads rose 12.7% last week from the same time last year, marking their 16th increase in a row and the eighth this year, an industry association said on Thursday.

Chemical railcar loadings for the week ended on 27 February were 31,307, up 3,534 car loads from 27,773 in the same week last year, according to data released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

The increase for the week comes after a 13.7% year-over-year increase in the previous week ended on 20 February.

The weekly chemical railcar loadings data are seen as an important measure of chemical industry activity and demand. Railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical volumes by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest.

The increase in chemical shipments compares with 2.6% year-over-year increase in overall weekly railcar shipments for the 19 commodity categories tracked by the AAR.

Year-to-date to 27 February, US chemical railcar loadings were up 12.2% to 229,504 from 204,459 in the year-earlier period.

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

Canadian chemical railcar traffic for the week ended on 27 February rose 30.5% to 15,505 from 11,881 in the same week last year.

For the year-to-date period, Canadian shipments were up 21.1% to 118,425 from 97,773 in the same period in 2009.

Mexican weekly chemical rail traffic rose 7.3% to 1,253 from 1,168 in the same week a year earlier.

For the year-to-date period, Mexican shipments were up 11.6% % to 9,196 from 8,241 in the same period last year.

For all of North America, chemical railcar shipments rose 17.7% for the week ended on 27 February to 48,065 from 40,822 in the same week in 2008.

For the year-to-date period to 27 February, overall North American chemical railcar traffic was up 15.0% to 357,125 from 310,473 in the year-earlier period.

Overall, the AAR tracks 19 carload commodity categories.

From the same week last year, total US weekly railcar traffic for the 19 carload commodity categories rose 2.6% to 290,261 but was down 1.1% to 2,146,661 year to date.

For all of North America, total railcar traffic rose 4.7% to 375,696 for the week and was up 2.1% to 2,818,429 year to date to 27 February.

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