UpdateCanada weekly chemical railcar traffic rises 27.8%

10 June 2010 20:22  [Source: ICIS news]

(updates with Canadian, Mexican and overall North American shipment data)

TORONTO (ICIS news)--Chemical shipments on Canadian railroads rose 27.8% last week from the same time in 2009, marking their 22nd increase in a row this year, an industry association said on Thursday.

Canadian chemical railcar loadings for the week ended on 5 June were 13,982, up from 10,938 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 14.1% year-over-year increase in Canadian chemical carloads in the previous week ended on 29 May.

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

For the year-to-date period to 5 June, Canadian chemical railcar shipments were up 27.3% to 320,838 from 251,987 in the same period in 2009.

Meanwhile, Mexican chemical railcar traffic rose 2.8% last week to 1,124 from 1,093 in the same week a year earlier.

For the year-to-date period, Mexican shipments were up 6.4% to 25,244 from 23,731 in the same period last year.

The AAR reported earlier on Thursday that US chemical railcar traffic rose 3.4% to 26,426 from 25,565 in the same period a year ago.

Year-to-date to 5 June, US chemical railcar loadings were up 12.7% to 635,226 from 563,610 in the year-earlier period.

Total chemical railcar shipments for all of North America – US, Canada and Mexico - rose 10.5% for the week ended on 5 June to 41,532  from 37,596 in the same week in 2009.

For the year-to-date period to 5 June, overall North American chemical railcar traffic was up 16.9% to 981,308 from 839,328 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 4.0% to 270,251 from 259,942 and was up 7.0% to 6,193,584 year to date to 5 June. 

For all of North America, total railcar traffic rose 8.4% to 356,012 from 328,298 for the week and was up 10.1% to 8,085,370 year to date to 5 June.

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