UpdateCanadian weekly chemical railcar traffic rises 5.5%

17 March 2011 21:03  [Source: ICIS news]

(adds Canadian and Mexican chemical rail traffic data)

TORONTO (ICIS)--Chemical shipments on Canadian railroads rose 5.5% in the week ended 12 March compared with the same period in 2010, an industry association said on Thursday.

Canadian chemical railcar loadings were 11,739 last week, up from 11,122 in the same week a year earlier, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) said.

The previous week ended 5 March saw a year-on-year increase of 5.0%.

The weekly chemical railcar loadings data are seen as an important real-time 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.

Year to date to 12 March, Canadian chemical railcar shipments were up 9.5% to 114,814 from 104,885 in the year-earlier period.

The association said chemical railcar traffic in Mexico rose 24.5% last week to 1,408, from 1,131 in the same week a year earlier.

Year to date to 12 March, Mexican chemical railcar shipments were down 4.9% to 10,793 from 11,355.

Chemical shipments on US railroads rose 6.0% in the week ended 12 March compared with the same period in 2010.

There were 30,635 chemical railcar loadings last week, up from 28,899 loadings in the same week a year earlier.

The previous week ended 5 March saw a year-on-year increase of 11.0%.

Overall US weekly railcar shipments for the 19 high-volume freight commodity groups tracked by the AAR rose 1.3% to 292,164.

For all of North America, total weekly railcar traffic rose 0.8% to 379,242.

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By: Stefan Baumgarten
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