US weekly chemical railcar traffic rises 4.9% year on year

04 August 2011 18:52  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--Chemical shipments on US railroads rose by 4.9% year on year in the week ended on 30 July, a rail industry group said on Thursday.

There were 30,480 chemical railcar loadings last week, compared with 29,045 loadings in the same week in 2010, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) said.

In the previous week ending on 23 July, US chemical railcar traffic was up by 4.1% 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 shipments by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest.

Meanwhile, overall US weekly railcar shipments for the 19 high-volume freight commodity groups tracked by the AAR fell 2.0% to 292,812 carloads, mainly driven by a 6.9% decline in coal shipments. Coal accounts for more than 40% of overall US railcar shipments.

For the year to date to 30 July, US chemical railcar loadings were up by 5.1% year on year to 908,155 carloads.

Read Paul Hodges’ Chemicals and the Economy Blog

By: Stefan Baumgarten
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