US weekly chemical railcar traffic rises 1.4% year on year

30 June 2011 17:08  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--Chemical shipments on US railroads rose by 1.4% year on year in the week ending 25 June, a rail industry group said on Thursday.

There were 28,965 chemical railcar loadings last week, an increase from the 28,577 for the same week in 2010, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) said.

In the previous week ended 18 June, US chemical railcar traffic rose by 4.5% 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 fell by 0.2% to 284,562 carloads.

For the year to date to 25 June 2011, US chemical railcar loadings were up by 5.2% year on year to 758,208 carloads.

Read Paul Hodges’ Chemicals and the Economy blog

By: Stefan Baumgarten
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