U.S. carload shipments of coal continued stronger while petrochemicals fell off in the week ending April 8, according to the Association of American Railroads.
For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 513,022 carloads and intermodal units, up 7.1% compared with the same week in 2016. Carloads totaled 252,056 units, up 9.8%, while intermodal volume was 260,966 containers and trailers, up 4.6% from the year-ago period.
Five of the 10 carload commodities tracked by the AAR posted gains including coal, up 29% to 75,078 carloads; grain, up 26% to 23,778 carloads, and nonmetallic minerals, up 7.6% to 37,582 carloads.
Commodities showing declines on-year included petroleum and petroleum products, off 15.7% to 10,020 carloads; metallic ores and metals, down 1.4% to 20,941 carloads, and forest products, down 1% to 9,929 carloads.
Through the first 14 weeks of 2017, U.S. railroads had volume of 3,576,158 carloads, ahead 6% percent, and 3,648,646 intermodal units, up 1.7%. Total combined U.S. traffic was 7,224,804 carloads and intermodal units, a gain of 3.8% percent compared to 2016.
North American rail volume for the week on 13 reporting U.S., Canadian and Mexican railroads totaled 345,891 carloads, an increase of 9.6%, and 334,403 intermodal units, up 5.3% Total combined weekly rail traffic reached 680,294 carloads and intermodal units, up 7.5%. Volume for the first 14 weeks of this year was 9,553,592 carloads and intermodal units, up 4.6%.
Canadian railroads reported 77,948 carloads for the week, up 10.2%, and an identical gain for 62,669 intermodal units. For the year, cumulative rail traffic of 1,959,582 carloads, containers and trailers surged 9%.
Mexican railroads reported 15,887 carloads for the week, up 3.8% and 10,768 intermodal units, off 3.7% for the week ending April 8. Cumulative volume for the first 14 weeks of the year was 369,206 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, a narrow decline of 0.3% from a year ago.
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