US weekly chemical railcar traffic rises 4.1% year on year

10 February 2011 17:45  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS)--Chemical shipments on US railroads rose 4.1% in the week ended 5 February compared with the same period in 2010, even as winter storms hampered rail traffic in parts of the country, a rail industry group said on Thursday.

There were 28,829 chemical railcar loadings last week, up 1,130 carloads from the 27,699 loadings in the same week a year earlier, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

The previous week ended 29 January saw a year-on-year rise of 3.2%.

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.

Overall US weekly railcar shipments for the 19 high-volume freight commodity groups tracked by the AAR were mostly unchanged at 267,682 railcar loadings from the same period in 2010 because of the winter storms in parts of the country, the association said. 

Year to date to 5 February, US chemical railcar loadings rose 5.6% to 149,563 carloads from 141,656 in the year-earlier period.

Read Paul Hodges’ Chemicals and the Economy blog
To discuss issues facing the chemical industry go to ICIS connect

By: Stefan Baumgarten
+1 713 525 2653

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly