US chemical railcar traffic falls for third week in a row

15 December 2011 18:45  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS)--US chemical railcar traffic fell by 1.1% year on year for the week ended 10 December, marking their third decline in a row and the seventh decline so far this year, according to data released by a rail industry group on Thursday.

There were 28,049 chemical railcar loadings last week, compared with 28,362 in the same week in 2010, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) said.

In the week ended 3 December, US weekly chemical railcar traffic fell by 3.8% 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 transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest.

Meanwhile, overall US weekly railcar traffic for the 19 high-volume freight commodity groups tracked by the AAR rose by 3.7% year on year to 297,400 carloads.

For the year to date to 10 December, US chemical railcar loadings were up by 3.4% year on year to 1,461,847 carloads.

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By: Stefan Baumgarten
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