UpdateUS chemical railcar traffic rises 14.4%

25 March 2010 18:52  [Source: ICIS news]

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TORONTO (ICIS news)--Chemical shipments on US railroads rose 14.4% last week from the same time last year, marking their 19th increase in a row and the 11th this year, an industry association said on Thursday.

Chemical railcar loadings for the week ended on 20 March were 28,818, up 3,619 car loads from 25,199 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 19.3% year-over-year increase in the previous week ended on 13 March.

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 4.3% year-over-year increase in overall weekly railcar shipments for the 19 commodity categories tracked by the AAR.

Year-to-date to 20 March, US chemical railcar loadings were up 13.6% to 315,971 from 278,164 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 20 March rose 36.7% to 15,383 from 11,249 in the same week last year.

For the year-to-date period, Canadian shipments were up 24.7% to 163,917 from 131,435 in the same period in 2009.

Mexican weekly chemical rail traffic rose 4.5% to 1,050 from 1,005 in the same week a year earlier.

For the year-to-date period, Mexican shipments were up 7.7% to 12,438 from 11,547 in the same period last year.

For all of North America, chemical railcar shipments rose 20.8% for the week ended on 20 March to 45,251 from 37,453 in the same week in 2009.

For the year-to-date period to 20 March, overall North American chemical railcar traffic was up 16.9% to 492,326 from 421,146 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 4.3% to 287,639 and was up 0.3% to 3,007,297 year to date.

For all of North America, total railcar traffic rose 7.7% to 374,582 for the week and was up 3.6% to 3,941,811 year to date to 20 March.

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By: Stefan Baumgarten
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