US weekly chemical railcar traffic rises 17.4% year on year

30 December 2010 17:13  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--Chemical shipments on US railcars rose 17.4% last week compared with the same period in 2009, the 50th increase so far this year, a rail industry group said on Thursday.

There were 25,470 chemical railcar loadings in the week ended 25 December, up by 3,778 carloads from 21,692 in the same week last year, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

The previous week ended 18 December saw a year-on-year rise of 7.8%.

The weekly chemical railcar loadings data are an important real-time measure of chemical industry activity and demand. Railcar loadings represent about 20% of US chemical volumes by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest.

In addition, there was a 29.3% year-on-year increase in overall weekly railcar shipments for the 19 high-volume freight commodity groups tracked by the AAR. Year to date to 25 December, chemical railcar shipments totalled 1,467,777, up 9.6% from in the same period in 2009.

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By: Brian Ford
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