UpdateUS weekly chemical railcar traffic increases 8.6%

22 April 2010 19:26  [Source: ICIS news]

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TORONTO (ICIS news)--Chemical shipments on US railroads rose 8.6% last week from the same time in 2009, marking their 23rd increase in a row and the 15th this year, an industry association said on Thursday.

Chemical railcar loadings for the week ended on 17 April were 29,221, up by 2,310 carloads from 26,911 in the same week last year, according to data released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

The increase for the week came after a 26.0% year-over-year increase in chemical carloads in the previous week ended on 10 April.

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 compared with a 16.1% year-over-year increase in overall weekly railcar shipments for the 19 commodity categories - all categories except pulp and paper products recorded year-over-year increases last week.

Year-to-date to 17 April, US chemical railcar loadings were up 13.9% to 431,474 from 379,083 in the year-earlier period.

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

Canadian chemical railcar traffic for the week ended on 17 April rose 46.4% to 15,014 from 10,258 in the same week last year.

For the year-to-date period, Canadian shipments were up 26.7% to 221,437 to 174,802 in the same period in 2009.

Mexican weekly chemical rail traffic rose 3.3% to 1,212 from 1,173 in the same week a year earlier.

For the year-to-date period, Mexican shipments were up 10.7% to 17,268 from 15,593 in the same period last year.

For all of North America, chemical railcar shipments rose 18.5% for the week ended on 17 April to 45,447 from 38,342 in the same week in 2009.

For the year-to-date period to 17 April, overall North American chemical railcar traffic was up 17.7% to 670,452 from 569,478 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 16.1% to 296,599 and was up 4.0% to 4,175,722 year to date.

For all of North America, total railcar traffic rose 18.0% to 384,252 for the week and was up 7.0% to 5,458,936 year to date to 17 April.

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By: Stefan Baumgarten
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