UpdateCanada weekly chemical railcar traffic rises 32.6%

13 May 2010 20:47  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--Chemical shipments on Canadian railroads rose 32.6% last week from the same time in 2009, marking their 18th increase in a row this year, an industry association said on Thursday.

Canadian chemical railcar loadings for the week ended on 8 May were 14,400, up by 3,537 carloads from 10,863 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 44.2% year-over-year increase in Canadian chemical carloads in the previous week ended on 1 May.

The weekly chemical railcar loadings data are seen as an important measure of chemical industry activity and demand. In Canada, chemical railcar traffic accounts for about 20% of overall railcar shipments, compared with around 10% in the US.

For the year-to-date period to 8 May, Canadian chemical railcar shipments were up 28.5% to 265,880 from 206,921 in the same period in 2009.

Meanwhile, Mexican chemical railcar traffic rose 54.5% last week to 1,632 from 1,056 in the same week a year earlier.

For the year-to-date period, Mexican shipments were up 11.1% to 21,161 from 19,046 in the same period last year.

The AAR reported earlier on Thursday that US chemical railcar traffic rose 14.6% or 3,746 carloads to 29,475 from 25,729 in the same week last year.

Year-to-date to 8 May, US chemical railcar loadings were up 13.7% to 522,022 from 459,228 in the year-earlier period.

Total chemical railcar shipments for all of North America – US, Canada and Mexico - rose 20.9% for the week ended on 8 May to 45,507 from 37,648 in the same week in 2009.

For the year-to-date period to 8 May, overall North American chemical railcar traffic was up 18.1% to 809,063 from 685,195 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 14.7% to 288,905 from 251,842 and was up 5.8% to 5,058,563 year to date to 8 May. 

For all of North America, total railcar traffic rose 19.4% to 377,266 from 315,898 for the week and was up 8.8% to 6,606,344 year to date to 8 May.

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