US weekly chemical railcar traffic rises rises 8.0% year on year

19 May 2011 17:16  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--Chemical shipments on US railroads rose 8.0% year on year in the week ended 14 May, a rail industry group said on Thursday.

There were 30,683 chemical railcar loadings last week, up from 28,398 carloads in the same week in 2010, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

In the previous week ended 7 May, US chemical railcar traffic rose 2.3% year on year. 

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.

Overall, US weekly railcar shipments for the 19 high-volume freight commodity groups tracked by the AAR rose 1.6% to 294,271 carloads.

Year to date, from 1 January 2011 to 14 May 2011, US chemical railcar loadings were up 5.7% to 581,474 carloads.

Read Paul Hodges’ Chemicals and the Economy Blog

By: Stefan Baumgarten
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