UPDATE: US weekly chemical railcar traffic rises 18.4%

11 March 2010 19:21  [Source: ICIS news]

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TORONTO (ICIS news)--Chemical shipments on US railroads rose 18.4% last week from the same time last year, marking their 17th increase in a row and the ninth this year, an industry association said on Thursday.

Chemical railcar loadings for the week ended on 6 March were 28,795, up 4,470 car loads from 24,325 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 12.7% year-over-year increase in the previous week ended on 27 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 3.7% year-over-year increase in overall weekly railcar shipments for the 19 commodity categories tracked by the AAR.

Year-to-date to 6 March, US chemical railcar loadings were up 12.9% to 258,299 from 228,784 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 6 March rose 37.6% to 14,984 from 10,889 in the same week last year.

For the year-to-date period, Canadian shipments were up 22.8% to 133,409 from 108,662 in the same period in 2009.

Mexican weekly chemical rail traffic fell 11.7% to 995 from 1,127 in the same week a year earlier.

For the year-to-date period, Mexican shipments were up 8.8% to 10,191 from 9,368 in the same period last year.

For all of North America, chemical railcar shipments rose 23.2% for the week ended on 6 March to 44,774 from 36,341 in the same week in 2009.

For the year-to-date period to 6 March, overall North American chemical railcar traffic was up 15.9% to 401,899 from 346,814 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 3.7% to 285,160 but was down 0.5% to 2,431,821 year to date.

For all of North America, total railcar traffic rose 7.5% to 373,139 for the week and was up 2.7% to 3,191,568 year to date to 6 March.

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